Eric joined Boutinot in 2005, managing our own-production wines from the Rhône, Languedoc and Gascony. Today he oversees all of our winemakers, wherever they are in the world. This might mean that he doesn’t get as personally involved in as many wines as he once did, but as he says:
my job is to make myself unemployed by employing people that do it better than me
Eric’s career began at the University of Besancon where he completed a degree in physics, chemistry and biology. This led to a research project on the detection of wine fraud using nuclear magnetic resonance (RMN). Through this project Eric discovered a passion for wine and went on to achieve a Master’s degree in Oenology at the University of Reims, during which time he worked as a viticulturalist. Staying in Reims he joined Champagne House Louis Roederer and assisted with the 1996 vintage.
Eric then moved south to Burgundy (“Champagne was too cold for me!”), working for Bouchard Père et Fils in Beaune and William Fèvre in Chablis. Here, Eric was deeply involved in the vinification process of wines from the north to the south of Burgundy, including Beaujolais, Côtes de Beaune, Côtes de Nuits, and Chablis, which he describes as:
A fantastic period, during which I discovered some of the best wines of Burgundy throughout their élevage, dealing with most of the Grand Crus
In 1999 Eric became the Quality Manager of Group Schenk in Beaune, establishing quality systems for bottling and vinification plants. Three years later he became the winemaker at the 10-hectare Domaine Henri de Villamont in Savigny Les Beaune, where he was responsible for managing the harvest, vinification and blending of the wines. After six fulfilling years there he joined Boutinot and the rest, as they say, is history.
Never one to live life in the slow lane, at the weekends Eric loves to spend time with his wife and three children, or as the children get older, ‘the fourth child’: his Harley Davidson!