Bouchon

The history of Bouchon Family Wines actually starts much earlier than the foundation of the modern winery in Maule in 1977. “In 1877 my great-grandfather Emile Bouchon, a winemaker, came from St Émilion to Chile,” explains Julio Bouchon Junior. “He started working in a winery just outside of Santiago, before going to work in Colchagua, where he helped establish another winery. The story of Bouchon wines in Maule, though, starts with my father, Julio Bouchon Senior, who studied a winemaking degree in Bordeaux and came back with the idea of starting a premium winery in Maule. He bought our family estate in Mingre in 1977.”

With over 160 hectares planted at three different sites in Maule today, the family winery is firmly established in the heart of Maule and is one of the few family wineries left there that is open to tourism and making premium estate wines. Part of their focus is on old vines and dry-farming in the Secano Interior.

This old vine and dry-farming concept is something that the winery embraces firmly today, and the fourth-generation — brothers Julio and Juan, and their sister Maria — have championed a revival of old-vine País and Sémillon wines, as well as continuing to produce the dry-farmed Bordeaux varieties that their father planted. 

Today Bouchon Family Wines includes a range of wine brands and diverse portfolio of wines from Maule, and some from further afield, and the winery is open for visits, tastings and has a boutique wine hotel amongst the vines.