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Bottes Rouges by Ivan Omelchenko

Les Bottes Rouges lands in Kyiv: brilliant wines that demand your patience


Couldn't miss this event! Just think about it - a winemaker I love, new shipments finally arriving in Kyiv (finally! Usually I'm hunting through European shops and waiting ages for delivery). And here's a tasting of the whole lineup.

Short version: the wines are brilliant but painfully young. From my experience (accounting for vintage differences), Bottes Rouges wines really sing after at least five years. Before that, they bring too much pain. The prices bite, sure, but if you've got the patience to wait them out, there are absolutely sensible purchases among new arrivals.

Wine
WAVG
SDEV
FAV
Price
Volume
QPR
🏅 4th4.02000.00200UAH 1,890
0.75 L
0.7838 😐
🏅 5th3.99000.01840UAH 1,890
0.75 L
0.7374 😐
🏅 6th3.94000.02240UAH 1,990
0.75 L
0.6496 😐
🏅 7th3.81000.00410UAH 1,890
0.75 L
0.5141 😐
🥈 2nd4.23000.01551UAH 2,050
0.75 L
1.1612 😊
🥉 3rd4.16000.03061UAH 1,890
0.75 L
1.0452 😊
🥇 1st4.33000.04493UAH 2,350
0.75 L
1.3387 😊

About Producer

Meet Jean-Baptiste Menigoz, a former teacher in Arbois working with special needs children. At some point, he became fixated on low-intervention wines and decided to devote all his free time away from school to work in the vines. Under the tutelage of Stéphane Tissot, Jean-Baptiste learned the ins and outs of the wine world. In 2012 committed fully to trading his classroom for his vineyards.

Being a music lover, Jean-Baptiste named Domaine after a French song (The Red Boots). Musical references continue to pop up in the names of his cuvées. For example, Tôt ou Tard (Sooner or later) is the name of an independent French record label.

Now meet Florien Kleine Snuverink, a former owner of the famed Café Schiller in Amsterdam (Netherlands). She moved to Jura to learn winemaking. Initially, Florien planned to purchase some vines for herself but ultimately decided to join Jean-Baptiste.

So this is Domaine Les Bottes Rouges and two friends that started with different careers in different countries but decided to take the life-changing decision to work full-time as winemakers.

Les Bottes Rouges tôt ou tard 2023

Region
France » Jura » Côtes du Jura AOC
Type
red still, dry
Vintage
2023
Grapes
Ploussard
Alcohol
11
Volume
750 mL
Les Bottes Rouges tôt ou tard 2023

This wine secured the 🏅 4th place in our wine tasting lineup.

4.0

Fermented tomatoes, blood, and Nordic berries with warming spices dancing around. Lovely acidity but lacks the body to back it up - though that's expected from the variety, isn't it? There's something about overripe berries here, that edge between fruit and decay. The wine feels too young, caught in adolescence. And yet, it's ridiculously drinkable. The kind of contradiction that makes you pour another glass while wondering why. Pleasant confusion.

Les Bottes Rouges boomerang 2023

Region
France » Jura » Côtes du Jura AOC
Type
red still, dry
Vintage
2023
Grapes
Ploussard, Trousseau
Alcohol
12
Volume
750 mL
Les Bottes Rouges boomerang 2023

This wine secured the 🏅 5th place in our wine tasting lineup.

4.0

Strawberry fields with a hint of barnyard funk - that good funk, not the scary kind. Blood and bitter herbs keep things interesting, while something brilliantly fresh cuts through, like eucalyptus after rain. It's all surface charm though, bright and vivid but refusing to go deep. Not every wine needs to be profound. Fresh, lively, absolutely smashable.

Les Bottes Rouges la pépée 2022

Region
France » Jura » Arbois AOC
Type
red still, dry
Vintage
2022
Grapes
Pinot Noir
Alcohol
11.5
Volume
750 mL
Les Bottes Rouges la pépée 2022

This wine secured the 🏅 6th place in our wine tasting lineup.

3.9

Nordic berries fighting through a wall of fermentation funk. This wine is absolutely not ready - screaming youth from nose to finish. Blood and spice try to emerge but get slapped down by rigid tannins and screeching acidity that borders on volatile. There's even a salty edge, which is actually brilliant and saves this from being a complete waiting game.

Les Bottes Rouges la pépée 2023

Region
France » Jura » Arbois AOC
Type
red still, dry
Vintage
2023
Grapes
Pinot Noir
Alcohol
12.5
Volume
750 mL
Les Bottes Rouges la pépée 2023

This wine secured the 🏅 7th place in our wine tasting lineup.

3.8

Christ, this is work. Slightly fizzy, aggressively green, with Nordic berries struggling through a wall of screeching acidity. Blood notes somewhere in there, but you have to fight for them. The tannins are raw and angry, like they're personally offended you opened this bottle. Everything about this screams "why did you touch me, I'm not ready!" It's right at my purchase threshold, but only because I know what it could become. Right now? Borderline masochistic. Chuck it in the cellar and forget it exists for three years minimum.

Les Bottes Rouges gibus 2023

Region
France » Jura » Arbois AOC
Type
red still, dry
Wine

gibus

Vintage
2023
Grapes
Trousseau
Alcohol
12.5
Volume
750 mL
Les Bottes Rouges gibus 2023

This wine secured the 🥈 2nd place in our wine tasting lineup.

4.1

Raspberry and flowers wrestling with proper barnyard funk - that cow-and-cellar combination that makes natural wine sing if you intro this shit stuff. Chalk dust keeps everything lifted. It's still tense, coiled like a spring, but unlike its siblings this one's already showing its cards. Round, spiced, balanced - all the right pieces in place, just waiting to relax. This is the overachiever of the lineup, drinkable now if you're impatient (guilty), but clearly capable of so much more. Give it time and it'll probably hit higher territory. But honestly? It's already pretty damn delicious.

Les Bottes Rouges léon 2022

Region
France » Jura » Arbois AOC
Type
white still, dry
Wine

léon

Vintage
2022
Grapes
Chardonnay
Alcohol
12.5
Volume
750 mL
Les Bottes Rouges léon 2022

This wine secured the 🥉 3rd place in our wine tasting lineup.

4.0

Lemon and chalk with that distinctive silicon minerality cutting through. Yellow fruits peek out, then bruised apples and hazelnuts join the party. The acidity is spot on - bright but integrated, carrying everything through a properly long finish. That mineral backbone with the nutty development is just too good to resist. It's singing already, but it's better to hold it for a few years anyways.

Les Bottes Rouges face b 2022

Region
France » Jura » Côtes du Jura AOC
Type
white still, dry
Wine

face b

Vintage
2022
Grapes
Savagnin
Alcohol
13.5
Volume
750 mL
Les Bottes Rouges face b 2022

This wine secured the 🥇 1st place in our wine tasting lineup.

4.1

Fuck me, this is frustrating. I love this wine, I really do, but it's like watching a brilliant movie through a foggy window. Lemon tart with a hint of fresh bread, yellow fruits tumbling over hazelnuts, and this brilliant acid structure that just won't quit. Some herbal whispers too, adding complexity. The finish goes on forever, taunting you with what's to come. I know - I absolutely know - this will be stunning in five years. Right now it's merely very good, which feels almost insulting given what it's capable of.

Raw scores

WineBoris BIvan OAnya IMykola TLeraViktorKyrylo
4.004.104.004.004.004.104.00
4.004.003.903.904.303.903.90
3.904.303.903.903.903.804.00
3.803.803.903.803.703.803.90
4.104.504.204.204.404.304.30
4.004.504.204.204.004.304.40
4.104.704.204.404.704.404.50

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