Château du Moulin-à-Vent La Rochelle 2023
£41.75
The wine
Bright violet in the glass. A powerful bouquet of cherry and violet is underpinned by hints of sage and flint, and the palate is complex and elegant, its tannins supple, its acidity fresh and the finish impressively long.
La Rochelle sits at the top of a hillside at 280 metres, 4.2 hectares of shallower soil than neighbouring Champ de Cour, a mix of granite, sand and clay carrying manganese and iron oxides. The vines are 85 years old and face south, and the winds that cool the site around harvest keep the berries small and concentrated. Yields run at roughly 13 hectolitres per hectare, which is exceptionally low even for a cru Beaujolais. Around 40 per cent of the bunches were destemmed and the rest went in whole, fermented in stainless steel with a single daily pump-over; half the wine then spent eighteen months in used French oak averaging five years old, the other half staying 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.
