Sous Le Végétal

One might say that the earth exploded, leaving myriads of tiny islands between Greece and Turkey. Samos, a largely mountainous island, is almost touching Anatolia, only separated from it by 1 mile (sic!) Mycale Strait. In 2017 Jason Ligas and Patrick Bouju created a collaborative wine project Sous Le Végétal (under vegetation), on this beautiful green island.

The backbone is Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains (Moschato Samou locally), joined by the rare indigenous Avgoustiatis - said to be the first red grape harvested in Greece. The vines grow on ancient terraced vineyards across some sixty plots at elevations between roughly 400 and 900 metres. Each cuvée explores a different slope, vessel, or approach:

• Livia - direct-press Muscat, fresh and mineral
• Octave - Muscat from eight plots across four terroirs (okto, Greek for eight)
• Hüpnos - another Muscat expression
• Palli & Genesià - Muscat (a single cuvée, despite the ampersand)
• Auguste - the only red, from Avgoustiatis
• Sémélé - a rosé, half Avgoustiatis macerated a week, half direct-press Muscat

Four vessel types rotate across the cellar - amphorae, concrete eggs, steel, 500-litre barrels - with each plot vinified in at least two of them. No sulphur, no temperature control, indigenous yeasts, biodynamic and organic farming. The labels - off-the-Earth illustrations by Anthony Duchene, inspired by the volcanic soils - are as distinctive as the wines inside.

This project is entirely geared towards a very specific level of quality, and in order to nourish this project, I rely on the microcosmos, on the infinitely small. Furthermore, I believe in the infinitely slow.

--- Jason Ligas

The 2023 vintages are the most recent wines in circulation. Bouju remains actively producing at Domaine de la Bohème in Auvergne; the Samos project continues at its own deliberate pace - the "infinitely slow" is not a pose.