The founder and namesake of Maison Arnaud Boué shares his vision on sustainable winemaking and expansion plans
As the sun sets over the vineyards that dot the landscape in Villers-la-Faye, a small commune in the heart of the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits region of France’s Burgundy, a man looks at the soil and reflects on the future of the land. The terroirs are beautiful, but their ecosystem is fragile —this is the one thought that dominates Arnaud Boué’s mind as he considers best practices for protecting and enhancing the terroirs for decades to come.
The founder and namesake of 2Future portfolio company Maison Arnaud Boué has been passionate about wine since his youth, when he watched his parents cultivate a few vines to make their own wine “just for fun.” Born in 1984, Boué learned the art of winemaking from them, and with a passion for the land and the vineyards, his career path led him to the Montpellier SupAgro Institute, one of the best agronomy schools in France.
His goal was to become an engineer-agronomist and enologist, but while finalizing his training, he realized that a master’s degree wouldn’t be enough. Thus, the young Arnaud Boué began to look past French borders. “At the end of my school and internships, I decided to go abroad and learn a bit more about winemaking in other regions,” he recalls. His first stop wasn’t exactly beyond French borders, but Boué likes to joke about it being a different country as he thinks back to the time when, as a just graduate, he worked in Bordeaux (France’s largest wine producing region).
Boué then headed to South Africa and New Zealand with a quest to witness how both countries produce Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the two grape varieties Burgundy is famous for. After his season abroad, Boué returned to France, aiming to work in prestigious houses in Burgundy. For nine years, he held positions of responsibility in winemaking properties of the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune —referred to as Côte d’Or when combined and considered the most important wine regions in Burgundy.
Among others, he worked at Domaine David Duband, Clos des Lambrays (one of the big estates within Burgundy’s Grand Crus), Jean-Claude Boisset (France’s third largest wine group, whose namesake wine producer is known for modernizing the winemaking industry in Burgundy), and finally at Frédéric Magnien.
“From David Duband, who also started in Burgundy’s Haute Côte des Nuits, I learned lots of things about making wine, developing business, and I think what I learned the most from him was how important it is to have a good consideration for people that work with you,”, Boué says.
Nowadays, he notices what those different wineries and locations in France and abroad represented as he picked up experience: “Very different types of winemaking philosophies.” Learning distinctive viticulture styles was crucial to Boué’s professional and philosophical approach to winemaking and helped him create his own identity by using traditional techniques and sustainable farming practices to produce high-quality wines that reflect the unique terroir of Burgundy.
In 2018, supported by private investors, Boué created Maison Arnaud Boué as a trading house through crowdfunding. Then, in 2021, the company was added to 2Future’s portfolio thanks to Boué’s commitment to producing premium wines with the best of Burgundy in harmony with nature. “Maison Arnaud Boué applies an environmentally conscious approach to winemaking,” 2Future founder and CEO Luis Felipe Neiva Silveira summarizes. The winery focuses on organic agriculture and biodynamics ideas as the key pillars to promote sustainable, respectful, and high-quality viticulture.
Since 2019, Maison Arnaud Boué has been certified “Organic Farming” by Ecocert, a France-based organic certification organization that works in more than 130 countries. “Such certification guarantees the use of sustainable farming practices that help reduce soil erosion, prevent water pollution, and preserve biodiversity,” Silveira says.
The principles of biodynamics highlight the balance of ecosystems and the joint development of soil, plants, and animals, while organic farming replaces synthetic chemicals with tillage or grassing. To prevent plant disease, no artificial products are allowed, just a small amount of sulfur and copper.
“We still have some questions about the sustainability of organic farming based on some products we use, especially the copper that can get stuck in the soil,” Boué explains. Copper is used in organic farming as a natural fungicide. It meets organic farming certification as long as certifiers work with farmers to ensure only the minimum amount of the material is applied at low concentrations safe for human health and the environment.
The vinification process is carefully managed with a gentle, natural approach, while strict control is maintained to ensure the best quality. Afterward, the wines are matured with the utmost respect for their unique characteristics, preserving the true expression of the terroirs. The final result is a collection of Grand Cru, Premier Cru, Village, and regional wines that are full of expression, easily digestible, and distinctly reflective of their vintage and appellation.
The organic trend and the biodynamic philosophy, Arnaud Boué explains, came to the surface in Burgundy in the late 1990s. “Nowadays, it is still not the main way to cultivate vineyards in Burgundy,” he points out, “but more people are using less and less chemicals and getting closer to the bio methods even though they are not certified.” The benefits are substantive and visible, as Boué states:
“Organic vineyards are more vivid vineyards. You can see life in the soil. But the best way to convince suppliers and consumers is to tell them we can be clean, organic, and good winemakers too.”
According to Boué, the maison’s business project focused from the very beginning on making clean wines that are good for nature, for health, and for drinking. “That was quite fitting to my belief of encouraging local suppliers to engage in a new way of living through winemaking,” he says. This philosophy also aligns with 2Future’s commitment to generate well-being and a real positive impact for society and the planet.
With 2Future’s support, Maison Arnaud Boué is expanding its business by strengthening its sustainable approach to winemaking. This boost includes reinforcing supplying webs to meet ever-growing demand, purchasing new property, and developing estates.
“Land acquisition is a major aspect of the expansion plan; however, we are also focusing on consolidating our grape supply to secure quality and quantity at the same time. We also intend to increase our organic grapes provision,” Boué explains. The overall goal is to gradually evolve from a maison to a domaine with more and more organic certified wines in the portfolio. In the wine world, a maison is a negociant who mainly purchases fruit, while a domaine grows its own fruit.
Backed by 2Future, the winery has recently partnered with Studio Dada, a highly regarded design studio from Bordeaux, France, and Wine Lister founder and CEO Ella Lister, which will provide consulting services to Maison Arnaud Boué, aimed at the British market. The UK is among the next countries the company plans to export to (Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan are also in the target list). In addition to France, Arnaud Boué’s wines are currently available in the United States (California, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York City, and New Jersey, with more locations expected to be added soon), Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, China, Portugal, and Brazil.
To Arnaud Boué, growth will never compromise the business’s core idea. “We will evolve and develop but keep pushing forward on sustainability, through organic and biodynamic wine production. And we want to continue with the spirit of handcrafted, high-quality wines.”
