100% Cabernet Franc fermented and aged in buried Georgian qvevri. Bright red fruit, wildflowers, white pepper, and a little herbal spice come together in a wine that’s light, juicy, and incredibly fresh.

Houas Boukella 

Houas Boukella is one of the most intriguing new faces in the Loire, making a small collection of wildly expressive wines from his home in Anjou.

Originally from the mountains of Kabylia in Algeria, Houas arrived in France in 2019 and soon found his way into the world of natural wine. He met Patrick Desplats, the iconoclastic Loire vigneron known for his radically hands-off approach to farming and winemaking, and began learning alongside him and Thierry Beclair. The experience introduced Houas to a completely different way of thinking about wine, centered on biodiversity, native fermentation, long macerations, and allowing the vineyard and vintage to dictate the process.

By 2022, Houas was ready to make wine on his own. He began working with a handful of small parcels around Anjou, including Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon, and Grolleau Gris, and established his own tiny domaine. The farming follows organic and biodynamic principles, with a focus on creating a living, diverse environment rather than treating the vineyard as a monoculture.

The wines are small-batch, intensely characterful, and remarkably alive. Even at this early stage, Houas has developed a style that feels entirely his own: aromatic, textured, earthy, and full of energy, with enough freshness and drinkability to keep all that complexity in balance.

Houas is still at the very beginning of his journey, but the wines already suggest that something special is taking shape in Anjou.