La Compagnie de Bouteville
La Compagnie de Bouteville makes vinegars and balsamic-style condiments in the village of Bouteville, in the Charente, at the heart of the Grande Champagne cru of the Cognac vineyard. Everything it produces is aged in barrels that once held Cognac, which gives its bottles a depth and roundness that ordinary vinegars do not have.
The house
The company's production site sits beside the Château de Bouteville, in the same landscape of Ugni Blanc vines that supplies the Cognac houses. That grape is the starting point for everything Bouteville makes. For its best-known product, Le Baume de Bouteville, freshly pressed grapes are turned into a balsamic condiment, blended by the house's cellar master and left to age in old Cognac casks. The result is milder, lighter and less acidic than a conventional vinegar, and it has found its way onto the tables of Michelin-starred chefs as well as home cooks.
Alongside the Baume, the house produces a range of gourmet wine vinegars built on what it calls triple maturation: three successive stages in barrel, with the third stage in a different wood for each vinegar. Oak, acacia or Cognac casks each leave their own mark on the same Ugni Blanc base. The house also welcomes visitors for tours of the cellars and tastings, a hospitality that earned it a "coup de coeur" in the Michelin Green Guide in 2020.
The house describes its work as standing at the crossroads of winemaking tradition and gastronomic creativity, and the description is fair: the raw material and the barrels come straight from the world of Cognac, while the products are designed for the kitchen, from seasoning oysters and fish to finishing desserts and cocktails.
What they make
Clipperton carries the two ages of Le Baume de Bouteville, the balsamic condiment made from Ugni Blanc grapes and matured in former Cognac barrels. The six-year Baume is fruity and citrusy, with walnut and chestnut undertones; it is the one to reach for with salads, reductions, aged cheese or strawberries. The ten-year Baume is deeper and darker, with notes of smoked caramel, prunes and leather, and pairs naturally with foie gras and mature cheeses.
From the triple-maturation vinegars, we carry Le Fumé, finished in French oak for a smoky, aromatic character suited to grilled meats and smoked fish, and Le Végétal, finished in acacia barrels for a herbal, floral lightness that suits green salads, steamed vegetables and white fish. Both come in 200 ml glass bottles with a pourer, at 7.5% acidity.
- Le Baume de Bouteville, aged six and ten years
- Le Fumé and Le Végétal triple-maturation vinegars
See the full range in the La Compagnie de Bouteville collection.
Why Clipperton chose them
Clipperton is a family importer, and we look for products that could only come from one place. A balsamic-style condiment aged in Cognac barrels, made from Cognac's own grape, in a village at the center of the Grande Champagne, is exactly that. We work directly with small houses like this one so that what reaches Canada and the United States is the same bottle the cellar master approved. If you want to understand why French cooks keep so many vinegars within reach, our Journal has a longer read on the subject: Why French Vinegar Is the Secret Ingredient Chefs Won't Tell You About.
