{"title":"Simon Busser","description":"\u003cp\u003eIt’s hardly surprising that most good winemakers are out of touch with popular opinion. Their balance sheets no doubt demonstrate that the public’s interest in natural wines has increased, but beyond that, little is understood about what exactly pleases a regular person. As far as we are concerned, it’s better this way. In all fields of artistic practice, practitioners have their own rules, rites of passage, and criteria for evaluating one another’s work; they also have their own heroes. One of the most interesting things to ask a winemaker is the seemingly mundane question of what they drink when the tourists aren’t around. This is how we learned about Simon Busser, whose bottles kept showing up on the tables of our favorite vignerons.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSimon Busser farms 7 hectares of Côt, Merlot, and Gamay along a meandering stretch of the Lot river outside Cahors, in Southwest France. Equidistant from the Mediterranean sun and the rainy Atlantic of France, this is a region known for earthy and powerful red wines designed for the table. Practicing organic viticulture with a horse-drawn plough and zero-additive winemaking since 2008, Simon describes his style as “traditional” and “non-technical.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor Simon, traditional refers to a combination of ripe grapes, significant extraction, and then elevage in large wood or concrete vessels—a style that he learned from his father and neighbors in Praysac. Non-technical, though we often hear it invoked by winemakers, has a bit more complicated, quasi-paradoxical meaning. As in cooking where simple dishes with few ingredients—imagine an omelette, a sole meunière, cacio e pepe— require more rigorous practice and attention to detail than food made with tweezers, so in winemaking it is often more difficult to naturally vinify a traditional red than a cloudy pet-nat or an aromatic wine. It’s no wonder that most good chefs are more likely to have a steak frites on their night off than the newest tasting menu in town. In the present climate, where irony is often celebrated more than sincerity, it takes a good deal of nerve to do something simple and do it well, without yelling about it. In our view, Simon’s approach to winemaking will never go out of style because, like a good bistro, its objective is to nourish and bring people together at a table. (source: Percy Selection)\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"loriginel-simon-busser-natural-wine","title":"Simon Busser L'Originel Malbec 2019","description":"\u003cp\u003eSimon Busser L'Originel is a red natural wine made from 90% Malbec and 10% Merlot farmed organically in Cahors, Southwest France. Medium to full body red wine, ripe red fruit on the nose, round and supple but with typical Merlot aromatics.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Simon Busser","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42617958072536,"sku":"BUSSORIG19C","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/products\/simon-busser-l_originel-field-blend-natural-wine-primal-wine.jpg?v=1718500491"},{"product_id":"vieilles-vignes-simon-busser-natural-wine","title":"Simon Busser Vieilles Vignes 2020","description":"\u003cp\u003eSimon Busser Vieilles Vignes is a red natural wine made from Malbec from Simon's oldest vines, a massale selection planted in the 1960s. Raised in foudres for a period of 15 months. Medium body red wine, blackcurrant, plums, black cherries, savory palate.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Simon Busser","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42618004209880,"sku":"BUSSVIGN19C","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/products\/simon-busser-vieilles-vignes-malbec-natural-wine-primal-wine.jpg?v=1718500488"},{"product_id":"pur-cot-simon-busser-natural-wine","title":"Simon Busser Pur Côt 2019","description":"\u003cp\u003eSimon Busser Pur Côt is a red natural wine made from Malbec aka Côt from an old parcel of vines at Les Rouges. Although the vines here are younger than the \"old\" vines planted nearby, this particular selection of Côt is prone to smaller yields and more concentrated juice. Simon considers this wine to be the most ancestral take on Cahors. Aged for a period of 6 months in large Bordeaux barrels, it is a profound red wine for a big meal. (source: Percy Selection)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Simon Busser","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42618030915800,"sku":"BUSSMALB19C","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/products\/simon-busser-pur-cot-malbec-natural-wine-primal-wine.jpg?v=1647199425"},{"product_id":"rose-des-pres-simon-busser-natural-wine","title":"Simon Busser Rosé des Prés 2020","description":"\u003cp\u003eSimon Busser Rosé des Prés 2020 is a natural wine made from Tannat Rosé. Bottled with a few grams of residual sugar and a little CO2. Great as an apéro for the Spring months. (source: Percy Selection)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Simon Busser","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42618057031896,"sku":"BUSSROSD20C","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/products\/simon-busser-rose-des-pres-natural-wine-primal-wine.jpg?v=1718500482"},{"product_id":"printemps-cot-merlot-busser-natural-wine","title":"Simon Busser Printemps Côt \u0026 Merlot 2021","description":"\u003cp\u003eSimon Busser Printemps Côt \u0026amp; Merlot 2021 is a red natural wine made from a blend of Côt and Merlot farmed organically in Cahors, Southwest France. Long maceration in concrete tanks and aged on the lees for about 12 months. High-acidity red wine with small berries on the nose and a savory palate.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Simon Busser","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43690141778136,"sku":"BussPrin","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/products\/simon-busser-printemps-natural-wine-primal-wine.jpg?v=1718499561"},{"product_id":"merlot-busser-natural-wine","title":"Simon Busser Merlot 2021","description":"\u003cp\u003eSimon Busser Merlot 2021 is a red natural wine made from 100% Merlot grapes farmed organically in Cahors, Southwest France. Partial carbonic maceration, light-bodied red wine bottled unfined, unfiltered, with no additional sulfites.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Simon Busser","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43690145186008,"sku":"BussMerl","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/products\/simon-busser-merlot-natural-wine-primal-wine.jpg?v=1718499558"},{"product_id":"a-bras-le-cot-simon-busser","title":"Simon Busser A Bras le Côt 19\/21","description":"\u003cp\u003eSimon Busser is mostly known for his rather traditional Cahors reds. But 2021 was a very unusual year and called for some improvisation. A cool and rainy summer led to serious problems with mildew, so serious in fact that Simon lost nearly 90% of his harvest. The grapes that he was able to save were unevenly ripe and fragile. Intuitively, Simon drew on his old experiences in the Loire with Olivier Cousin, opting to vinify his Côt in a semi-carbonic whole-cluster style. A lover of rich and extracted reds, Simon was somewhat underwhelmed with the initial result: low alcohol, mild tannins, and vegetal fruit. A late-night session last summer resulted in a brilliant intervention. The 2021 Côt was blended with a small amount of 2019 with polar opposite qualities. This multi-year Côt is unlike anything Simon has ever made: fresh, juicy, and ideally served cold, it reminds me of the first-wave natural wines from Anjou that became emblematic of the category two decades ago. We love this wine and hope you will too. (source: Percy Selection)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Simon Busser","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43882171400408,"sku":"busser-abraslecot-1040","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/files\/simon-busser-a-bras-le-cot-natural-wine-primal-wine.jpg?v=1689204622"}],"url":"https:\/\/primalwine.com\/collections\/simon-busser.oembed","provider":"Primal Wine","version":"1.0","type":"link"}