Henri Chauvet left a career in banking and insurance to make wine on some of the steepest volcanic hillsides in France. His estate in Boudes, in the southern Auvergne, only began in spring 2021, yet it already reads like a portrait of conviction over convenience.
Backstory
Chauvet was born in 1987 and grew up in Brive. A growing fascination with natural wine pushed him to change direction entirely. He earned a BTS in viticulture and oenology by correspondence, completing it in July 2020.
His training was hands-on and demanding. He worked with Jérôme Bressy at Domaine Gourt de Mautens in Rasteau and with Thierry Allemand, the reference point for Cornas. Both are growers known for rigor in the vineyard and restraint in the cellar. In spring 2021 Chauvet took over the former Sauvat estate in Boudes and made his first vintage that year.
The Region
Boudes sits in the Côtes d'Auvergne, a small appellation in the Massif Central built on ancient volcanic geology. The area is high, cool, and continental, with dramatic relief and short growing seasons. Vineyards here are scattered across slopes that defeat most machinery, which is one reason the region remains a haven for small, committed growers rather than industrial production. Gamay is the dominant red, with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay also at home in the cool climate.
Vineyards & Farming
Chauvet farms 10.5 hectares. The plantings are roughly 60 percent Gamay, 30 percent Pinot Noir, and the balance Chardonnay.
The geology shifts parcel by parcel. Valley-floor plots such as Chamaret and Donazat sit on red clay with decomposed, quartz-rich granite and limestone. The steep hillside sites, including the vertiginous Baconnet along with Côte and Bavotte, grow on volcanic basalt laced with ochre marl, with parcels running over old lava flows and bands of blue, red, and white marl. Chauvet began organic conversion from his first day on the land. The gradients make the work arduous and mechanization nearly impossible, so much is done by hand.
Winemaking
Chauvet works with 100 percent indigenous yeasts and bottles without fining or filtration. His sulfur use has tightened over time. The 2021 whites carried a small addition at harvest, around two grams, and from 2022 he moved to zero added sulfur.
He resists easy labels. In his words, he is neither natural nor conventional, and he does not want a cellar philosophy to override the terroir. The aim is transparency to site rather than adherence to a movement.
The Wines
The range carries playful, evocative cuvée names that shift with the vintages, among them Braconnage, Échappée Belle, Entre Chien et Loup, and Vie Ordinaire, alongside bottlings such as Contre Nature and En Attendant la Pluie. Across the board they are vinified naturally in his Boudes cellar under the Côtes d'Auvergne appellation, built on Gamay and Pinot Noir from high volcanic slopes, with Chardonnay for the whites. The thread running through them is energy and freshness drawn from cool altitude and volcanic soil.
