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The Society's 150th Anniversary Moulin-à-Vent 2019
Wine characteristics
- Red Wine
- Medium-bodied
- Gamay
- 75cl
- Now to 2025
- 13.5% Alcohol
- no oak influence
- Cork, natural
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
More on the wine
Moulin-à-Vent is considered by many to be the king of the Beaujolais crus, and its top wines historically commanded similar prices to grand cru red Burgundy. Thankfully for the consumer, if not the producers, that is no longer the case.
The elements of the blend that make up this delicious example come from four well-known and well-respected growers in the Moulin-à-Vent appellation with some exceptional terroir. Just under 10% of the wine was aged in small oak barrels of three to four years. While this doesn’t impart any obvious oak flavour in the wine, it adds to the texture and structure of the wine on the palate.
We put the blend together with Maison Dépagneux, a négociant with excellent contacts in the Beaujolais region, enabling us to produce a classic style of Moulin-à-Vent with good purity and depth of flavour. The 2019 vintage produced excellent wines in Beaujolais, with the gamay grapes reaching optimal ripeness, but without losing the freshness that makes cru Beaujolais wines so appetising and food friendly.
Les Vins Aujoux
This is the source of the bulk of our Beaujolais for the last 50 years, and many members will also have tried the fruits of The Society’s work with this excellent Beaujolais-based négoce in the form of our bestselling white wine, The Society’s White Burgundy, sourced from the Mâcon.
Dealing with a négociant allows The Wine Society to pick and choose, often blending together from different estates in order to end up with a wine that is better than any of its parts.
Négoces have had a huge part to play in the recent history of Beaujolais, some of it not so good but some of it very positive. For all its apparent simplicity, Beaujolais is a complicated region that is often the victim of its own capricious climate with late frosts and violent hailstorms a common recurrence.
The one name that stands out for us is Dépagneux: Jean Dépagneux was the last of this illustrious merchant family who, with his partners, bought up a list of ailing names such as Aujoux, which had made its name selling Beaujolais to the once profitable Swiss market. Jean retired about a dozen years ago and his place was taken by a young and talented oenologist from Viré called Jean-Marc Darbon. One consequence of the change has been the meteoric rise in the quality of The Society’s White Burgundy.
Since 2002 Les Vins Aujoux have operated an office in the Languedoc-Roussillon in the deep south of France, sourcing a range of wines.
Decanter
At once vibrant, refreshing, deep and complex, with outstanding purity of fruit and flavour definition. Wild strawberries, cranberry and rhubarb mingle on the palate, topped by delicate herbal notes.
JancisRobinson.com
Showing a bit more age than I would have expected, this Moulin-à-Vent has good sweetness to the ripe blackberry fruit. Smooth texture, bright acidity, just a little lighter and more mature than expected.
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