In the sun-baked hills of Prayssac, along a meandering stretch of the Lot river, Simon Busser farms with horse, instinct, and a principled refusal to complicate what the land already does well.
From Family Vines to Natural Vanguard
Busser took over his grandfather's vineyards in 2007, inheriting old Cot and Merlot vines rooted deep in the limestone soils of the Cahors appellation. He learned winemaking by working alongside Olivier Cousin in the Loire, absorbing a philosophy that prizes simplicity and rigor over technology. By 2008 he had converted fully to organic viticulture, plowing with horses and adding nothing to his wines -- no sulfur, no commercial yeasts, no corrections of any kind.
Horse, Vine, Lot River
His 5-hectare holding runs across calcareous river terraces well suited to the region's emblematic Cot, known elsewhere as Malbec. He has also planted Trousseau, Savagnin, and Chenin Blanc -- varieties that speak to his Loire influence and his curiosity. The vineyards are managed with painstaking attention: hand pruning, horse cultivation, green harvesting when needed, and picking only at peak ripeness.
A Kitchen Philosophy in the Cellar
Busser describes his approach with a culinary analogy: simple dishes -- sole meuniere, a plate of good cheese -- require more skill and attention than baroque multi-component preparations. Strip away the tricks and you must get everything right from the vine outward. Fermentations run with indigenous yeasts in large wood or concrete vessels. Wines age without additions and are bottled unfined and unfiltered.
A Community Anchor in Cahors
Busser has quietly become the keystone of the radical natural wine circle in Cahors, mentoring a generation of young neo-vignerons at a time when the appellation was still dominated by heavily extracted, oaked styles. His cuvees, including L'Originel and A Bras le Cot, are benchmarks of what Cahors can be when worked with honesty: dark-fruited, earthy, alive.
