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f a l l 2 0 1 8 | 5 1 Jean-Charles Boisset's new book, The Alchemy of the Senses, will be published in December by Chronicle Books. "I put all my years of understanding—everything I know—into it," he says. I was the child who smelled everything," recalls Jean-Charles Boisset over a private dinner at the JCB Salon at Raymond Vine- yards, the venerable Napa Valley property he purchased in Rutherford in 2009. It's tempting to think it was that curious sense of smell that launched Boisset—or JCB, as he has so successfully branded himself—on a meteoric trajectory that began with his family's Burgundy-based wine business and is still accelerating at a breathless pace. In 1961, when Boisset's father, Jean- Claude, was just 18, he founded a winery in the French commune of Nuits-Saint-Georg- es. Jean-Charles was exposed to wine and winemaking from the very mo- ment he entered the world: "I was born in the room over the cellar," he says. "We used to play hide-and-seek in the barrel room." Eventually, Jean-Charles and his sister Nathalie consolidated the family's vineyard holdings to establish Domaine de la Vougeraie, now one of the most prominent domaines in Burgundy. The Boisset estates now include other leg- endary Burgundian names (Bouchard Aîné & Fils and J. Moreau & Fils) and encompass properties in Beaujolais (Mommessin and Château de Pierreux) and the Rhône Valley (Bonpas). Broad-market labels from the south of France (Fortant and French Rab- bit) are also represented in the company's portfolio alongside a collection of French and domestic méthode champenoise sparkling wines, including Neige ice cider from Québec and Jean-Charles' own JCB by Jean-Charles Boisset brand. Boisset's reach has also expanded to Cali- fornia, where its estates include DeLoach Vineyards in the Russian River Valley; Cali- fornia's oldest winery, Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma; and Raymond Vineyards in Napa Valley. Jean-Charles has also partnered with Grammy Award–winning musician John Legend on the LVE (Legend Vineyard Exclu- sive) label, offering a Cabernet Sauvignon, a red blend, a Chardonnay, and a Côtes de Provence rosé. The list could go on . . . and that's just the liquid side of JCB. VITICULTEUR AND MASTER OF SAVOIR-VIVRE JEAN-CHARLES BOISSET BRINGS HIS AUDACIOUS STYLE TO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY AND BEYOND by David Gadd / photos by Alexander Rubin "My mother will tell you

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