About Olivier Cousin

Olivier Cousin is a legendary grower and one of the true pioneers of natural wine. He has farmed his family vines in Martigné-Briand, Anjou with biodynamics, ploughing only by draft horse since the 80s and working in the cellar with strictly no additions for over 20 years.

Since then he has courted his fair share of controversy. His staunch anti-establishment provocations making him the scourge of the Anjou AOC board and, in the process, a symbol of defiance and an inspiration to many who followed.

Few of the producers we work with are the type to be featured in Decanter magazine, but back in 2011 even they ran an article on Olivier with the ominous headline ‘Loire producer faces jail for protest labels’.  This was after 15 years fighting an ongoing legal battle with the Loire Wine Administration. From refusing to pay subsidies and stepping out of the appellation, to impish subversion of labeling requirements - it’s safe to say that Olivier gleefully became a pain in the backside of the authorities. His actions in support of his strongly held views that the official Anjou denomination was worthless as it promoted industrial methods in its wine. There is fantastic footage of him showing up to one of his court appearances on horseback, a barrel of his wine in tow to drink with supporters on the steps outside.

His enfant terrible days now more or less behind him, Olivier may have mellowed with age but is as principled as ever and his wine is grown and vinified in exactly the same way it always was. It’s more a matter of scale. He now works a focussed 4 hectares rather than 12, the difference has been passed on to his son Baptiste who takes on the torch and makes superb wine of his own labelled La Batossay. 

Half a hectare is Chenin Blanc and another half Gamay. Three hectares are an even split of Cabernet Franc on a long, slowly sloping brow of argilo-calcaire; the half towards the bottom are younger vines planted in the late 90s over a higher percentage of clay, the half at the top are his prized massale selection vines, each grafted by his grandfather in the late 40s sitting over a higher concentration of limestone.

A look around the cellar and it’s hard to tell which decade you might be in, apart from a light switch there is little in the way of technology. Big old wooden vats are positioned on two levels so grapes can be crushed and their juice moved from one to the other by gravity, a manual basket press, a metal mesh table to destem clusters of grapes by hand, a clay qvevri stood semi-upright in a tractor tyre. As you’d imagine, the resulting wines have a earthly, elemental quality and are a true taste of Anjou. Rustic, bold and imbued with authenticity and soul, this is what we talk about when we talk about ‘real wine’. 

After being harder to find in the UK in recent years, we’re immensely proud to shout about Oliver’s dedicated work once again and offer the full selection of his brilliant wine to lovers of the real deal, old and new.

Find out more about Olivier Cousin