Moulin a Vent

Bottles of this product are discounted by 30%. Price shown includes saving.

As ever, this is Louis’s richest and most serious wine, displaying a nose of rich, black fruit and savoury spice. There is still wonderful purity, along with an enormous density of black cherry fruit at the core. The structure is equally dense and present, but is balanced by the softness in the mid-palate. Once again, the lingering impression is one of freshness and energy. A wine which needs significant time to realise its potential. Drink 2022-2030.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

The excellence of Cru Beaujolais is something I have held dear for some time, but its ageing potential was first brought to my attention when I was served two Moulin-à-Vent wines from 1961 and 1962 produced by Camille Giroud. The freshness and complexity of these wines was simply astonishing and I have since made it something of a personal mission to return these great wines to their rightful place in the cellars and on the tables of the most discerning wine drinkers. The wines in our offer cover a range of styles; whole-bunch, de-stemmed, oaked, unoaked, elegant and floral, dense and structured. This almost endless variety and versatility is what is most fascinating about Gamay grown on Beaujolais’s volcanic soils. What the wines have in common, however, is that they all offer excellent value for money and great drinking pleasure.

Moulin-à-Vent was badly hailed in 2017, so Olivier did not make a bottling of his single-vineyard La Rochelle, instead blending the fruit into this single bottling. Théo looked after the vinification, de-stemming the fruit and using very gentle extraction to produce a gorgeous, pretty wine with rich red and black cherry, white pepper and a concentrated but fresh feel. Drink 2019-2025.

Olivier is taking many steps to counteract the warmer summers and earlier harvests; managing the canopy to protect grapes from sunburn, using late-ripening rootstocks, reducing the amount of new oak he uses to keep the wines feeling fresher, and bringing harvest dates forward to retain acidity. The 2017 crop is around 15 percent down due to the dry summer which stressed the grapes. Picking began on 27th August and Olivier feels the wines are a little richer than 2016, but still with very good balance and well-integrated oak.

This powerful, concentrated Moulin-à-Vent is distinctly Burgundian in style. The grapes are 100% de-stemmed, and the wine raised in 500-litre barrels (around 10% new). Expect aromas of juicy dark fruit, savoury spice and cola. The tannins are more supple than in the equally excellent Brussellions, suggesting this will be ready to drink a little earlier. Drink now to 2024.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant (spring 2019)

WOW! Or should that be WAW (What A Wine!)? 2015 was lauded as a great vintage in Beaujolais, producing wines of tremendous concentration which, in most cases, will benefit from lengthy cellaring. Olivier’s superb La Rochelle is bound to age well – as it always does – but isn’t necessarily typical of the vintage: tasting this wine, finesse is the first descriptor that comes to mind, rather than concentration or power. It’s positively aérien, with red fruit and floral notes to the fore. Olivier has gradually reduced the amount of new oak on this cuvée, and that seems a wise decision.
La Rochelle is an extraordinary vineyard for numerous reasons. Its eighty-year old vines are planted at a density of 12,000 per hectare (10,000 gives one metre between each vine). The granite bedrock lies close enough to the surface to peak through in places. The consequences for us, the lucky drinkers, include a pronounced mineral character to wine. In a warm vintage like 2015, it renders La Rochelle reminiscent of something from the Northern Rhône – let’s not forget, Moulin à Vent is, geographically, much closer to Côte-Rôtie than the Côte d’Or.
In short, this is a cheerful, supremely enjoyable wine, with a rare degree of complexity and serious capacity to develop over the next decade and beyond.
Will Heslop, Buyer. Berry Bros. & Rudd

From a yield of just 22 hl/ha, Olivier Merlin has produced a beautiful wine from the 75 year old vines in the La Rochelle vineyard. It displays a beautiful,pure, purple colour with a heavenly, heady nose, with a gorgeous strawberry and red fruit perfume. On the palate there are some peppery notes as well, with a fine structure to confirm long term ageing potential. 
Jasper Morris MW - Wine Buyer

A truly special cuvée, hence Thibault’s choice to release it only in magnum, les Vignes Centenaires hails from some of the oldest (a proportion planted in 1872) and best-sited vines in Beaujolais. In ’14, Thibault retained almost half the stems, and aged 40% of this cuvée in new wood, untoasted, to preserve the purity of fruit Thibault regards as one of its hallmarks, alongside extraordinary concentration and length. Best approached from 2019 onwards.
Will Heslop, Wine Buyer

The 2015 Moulin a Vent Champ de Cour comes from 80-year-old vines and is 30% whole bunch fruit with 30% new oak. This easily has the best aromatics: red cherries, kirsch, a touch of cassis and fresh fig, quite complex and well defined. The palate is vibrant on the entry with a fine line of acidity, crisp and energetic with a sturdy, slightly backward finish that suggests it will need a couple of years to fully mature.
Neal Martin (summer 2017)

Rich dark purple, previewing the opulent bouquet which includes some slightly chocolatey notes along with some mulberry fruit, before a crunchy mineral finish. Good weight and length.

Olivier Merlin uses a classic Beaujolais style fermentation, but has shortened the length of time in vat in the last few vintages to avoid undue astringency. This wine comes in part from La Rochelle (see below) and in part from other sectors of Moulin à Vent. There is a lovely perfume to the nose, followed by a complex palate with a touch of chocolate alongside the strawberry fruit. Drink 2013-2016.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director

Brilliant ruby. Suave red and blue fruit aromas show excellent clarity and are enlivened by smoky mineral and Indian spice flourishes. Sappy, sweet and expansive, offering intense boysenberry, cherry liqueur and floral pastille flavors and a hint of white pepper. Conveys a suave blend of richness and vivacity and finishes with smooth tannins and an intense echo of sweet blue fruit.
92 Points. Drinking window: 2018-2023
Josh Raynolds, vinous.com, June 2016

Thibault has made this cuvée since the 2009 vintage, having identified the site as special and isolated it from the blended Vieilles Vignes wine. The vines are at the bottom of the hill, on quite deep soils with a mix of blue/pink sandy granite and silt. The result is a rounded and soft expression of Moulin-à-Vent, arguably the most approachable of the range. There is a spicy, peppery Syrah note to the nose, then a touch of black olive and rich, concentrated red-black fruit, with sophisticated, silky tannins on the palate. Drink 2020-2026.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

The excellence of Cru Beaujolais is something I have held dear for some time, but its ageing potential was first brought to my attention when I was served two Moulin-à-Vent wines from 1961 and 1962 produced by Camille Giroud. The freshness and complexity of these wines was simply astonishing and I have since made it something of a personal mission to return these great wines to their rightful place in the cellars and on the tables of the most discerning wine drinkers. The wines in our offer cover a range of styles; whole-bunch, de-stemmed, oaked, unoaked, elegant and floral, dense and structured. This almost endless variety and versatility is what is most fascinating about Gamay grown on Beaujolais’s volcanic soils. What the wines have in common, however, is that they all offer excellent value for money and great drinking pleasure.

This vineyard is situated on the south side of the Moulin-à-Vent appellation, on a terrace below a large amphitheatre. The name refers to the field ( champ) into which water runs (cours). When it rains heavily, the topsoil from the slope above is washed into this vineyard, leaving a fascinating mix of pink, blue and yellow granite soil around a metre deep. Thibault compares this to Chambolle-Musigny; soft on entry, but with a firm grip at the finish. Forty percent whole- cluster was used here, and 15 percent new oak. There is a touch of spice on the nose, along with both red and black fruit. There is a spicy aniseed profile, suave and supple fruit in the middle and a very granitic finish. Gorgeous. Drink 2021-2030.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

The excellence of Cru Beaujolais is something I have held dear for some time, but its ageing potential was first brought to my attention when I was served two Moulin-à-Vent wines from 1961 and 1962 produced by Camille Giroud. The freshness and complexity of these wines was simply astonishing and I have since made it something of a personal mission to return these great wines to their rightful place in the cellars and on the tables of the most discerning wine drinkers. The wines in our offer cover a range of styles; whole-bunch, de-stemmed, oaked, unoaked, elegant and floral, dense and structured. This almost endless variety and versatility is what is most fascinating about Gamay grown on Beaujolais’s volcanic soils. What the wines have in common, however, is that they all offer excellent value for money and great drinking pleasure.

From the top of the hill, only 60 metres from the famous windmill, the vineyard has some young vines, but two-thirds are 90 years old. East-facing on pink sand over pink granite, it produces classic Moulin-à-Vent. Sophisticated, strict and serious, it has an inescapable sense of the place and its cool, glistening stones. Drink 2023-2035.

At the bottom of the hill with deep, silty soil over blue granite, the vineyard’s rich environment creates a bright, expressive wine with firmer tannins than usual. The finish is broad and spicy, with a white-pepper bite. It saw 40% whole-bunch, then was aged in large foudres. Drink 2021-2027.

This comes from seven separate parcels in a belt around the bottom of the hill of Moulin-à-Vent, where the persistent wind causes a bit of hydric stress. The vines are between 63 and 108 years old, on pink and white sand over granite and quartz. With 50% whole-bunch, this is almost overt, but the finish crackles with granitic intent. Drink 2022-2032.

This vineyard’s gentle amphitheatre has attracted myriad different eroded granites – yellow from Fleurie, pink and quartz from Moulin-à-Vent and blue from Chénas. There are lots of old vines, and Thibault proudly feels this is a Chambolle-Musigny of the region. Beautifully floral and silky. Drink 2022-2032.

The eponymous old vines are found in three parcels; two on the pink granite emblematic of Moulin-à-Vent, the third on deeper clay soil. Combined, they produce a Beaujolais of breath-taking concentration, tightly packed with blackberry fruit and grippy tannins. Drink 2021-2026.

A playful floral hit precedes aromas of pepper and wild herbs. This cuvée hails from a sandy, dry site and is invariably more mineral than the Vieilles Vignes, with a touch more freshness. There’s a generous dose of juicy black fruit on the mid-palate, but this is categorically a wine that needs time to reveal itself. Drink 2022-2028.

From four old-vine parcels surrounding the eponymous windmill, this is a delicious expression of Gamay whole-bunch fermented, with very gentle extraction, then raised in a large oak foudre. The result is a gorgeous red-cherry-scented wine, with crunchy fruit and fine, granitic tannins. Beautiful. Drink now to 2027.

Olivier’s La Rochelle vineyard is a 0.95-hectare parcel situated high above the moulin (windmill) at almost 300 metres’ altitude. The ancient vines give a wine of wonderful concentration, with touches of pepper, graphite and a slight leafiness. The palate has gorgeous violet floral touches and serious but juicy granite tannins. Drink 2022-2032.

Less “nervous” than on its release, but just as energetic, with lifted red berry and floral aromas, fresh acidity and chalky tannins which seem to channel the eponymous rock beneath Thibault’s vines – this parcel just beside the (also eponymous) windmill. There’s real weight of fruit on the palate, including darker berry flavours behind the initial surge of red. A hugely complex wine which will reward a decade’s cellaring.  
Will Heslop, Wine Buyer