Château du Moulin-à-Vent Champ de Cour 2023
£37.75
The wine
Bright red in colour, with intense aromas of cherry and violet. The palate is lively and carries the freshness of the vintage, its fine-grained tannins and crisp acidity leading into a long, elegant finish.
Champ de Cour lies in the heart of the appellation, 3.2 hectares at the foot of a granite hillside where it sits more sheltered from the prevailing wind than the estate’s higher plots. East facing at 220 metres, the soils here are deep and granitic with a high clay content, and the vines average 35 years, trained en éventail so the canopy can be managed properly. The fruit was picked by hand and fermented over three weeks in stainless steel with a small proportion of whole bunches for aromatic lift; about 30 per cent then went to French oak for twelve months while the rest stayed in tank. The estate farms organically and biodynamically and is certified organic from the 2024 vintage.
The producer
Château du Moulin-à-Vent
View all Château du Moulin-à-Vent winesChâteau du Moulin-à-Vent takes its name from the ancient windmill that crowns the greatest of Beaujolais' ten crus. This is the most structured and ageworthy corner of the region, where Gamay takes on a depth few expect from the grape. The estate has been a standard-bearer here for decades.
The vineyards lie on pink granite laced with veins of manganese, a soil said to give Moulin-à-Vent its power and longevity. Old vines are farmed plot by plot, each parcel vinified separately to capture its character. This is Beaujolais treated with the seriousness of the Côte d'Or.
In the cellar, fruit is fermented gently and aged in oak to build structure without masking the wine. The results are deeply coloured, firmly tannic and built to evolve. Young, they burst with fruit; with age, they turn silky and complex.
Moulin-à-Vent is often called the king of Beaujolais, and this estate shows why. These are Gamays of real gravity, wines that reward the cellar and hold their own at any table.
