Wine Advocate (92)

The 2014 Moulin A Vent Clos de Londres is another micro-cuvée that comes from a parcel just outside the château and for that reason the Parinet family believe that the previous owners paid a lot of attention to it. It was bottled in December 2015. It has an attractive bouquet with raspberry coulis, wild strawberry and bilberry that is well defined and seems to gain intensity in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp, slightly chalky tannin. This seems fresh and tensile, displays a light oyster shell note towards the finish that lingers in the mouth. You have the feeling that this will have more to give with 2-3 years in bottle and it is an exquisite take on Moulin-à-Vent that will give a decade's worth of drinking pleasure. Château de Moulin-à-Vent is one of the historic estates in Beaujolais, one that I had not been to before. So when Edouard Parinet invited me down, I thought I would take this opportunity to discover this revived estate that is beginning to produce some of the best wines in the appellation. Winemaking here dates all the way back to 1763 when Philiberte Pommier began making wines at the property (although records suggest that winemaking stretches back to 1732 when it was known as Château des Thorins). For many decades it produced a single cuvée from its diverse array of terroirs and as a bottle of 1991 showed, some of them can be rather fine. But in 2009 it was sold to Jean-Jacques Parinet, a Parisian with a lifetime passion for wines. He began by splitting up the 37 hectares of vine into separate cuvées, aiming to reflect the heterogeneous terroirs of Moulin-à-Vent. It is a long-term project. Clearly the renovations in the house are ongoing and I must admit that I did worry about getting electrocuted every time I went to the lavatory. It needs a bit of TLC but there is a lot of charm to this château and there is a great deal of investment into both the vineyard and the winery. Anyway, I asked Edouard Parinet some questions and he kindly replied in detail to give further information. I began by asking what inspired his father to purchase Chateau du Moulin-à-Vent? "We were both inspired by a family challenge and I was really into wine, maybe even more than my father! When considering buying a wine estate there are not so many options when you are looking for high potential and a historic appellation with affordable land prices. Moulin-à-Vent ticked all these boxes. Jean-Jacques (and his generation more globally) probably have considered for decades Moulin-à-Vent as a high-end appellation for wine, these wines being marketed pretty high in the 1960s and 1970s. Château du Moulin-à-Vent was the right match for a high potential domain sitting on terroir-rich soils!" I then asked for specific investments made at the property since 2009. Edouard replied: "The first big investment was the vat room in 2009, so that we immediately profit from well-equiped, clean facilities. The combination of stainless steel tanks with temperature control system is key for us in the vinification process. For the last 7 years we have been investing in the vineyard to rediscover perfect vegetal material and for this we have trellised the entire vineyard, complanté vines where they were missing and purchased new machinery. There are many ongoing trials at the domain as part of the investments in terms of trellising, pruning, soils and selection massale. We have also expanded the surface under organic viticulture to around 5 hectares and also 1 hectare under biodynamics. Our futaille [which you might translate as barrel regime] is mature enough so that we only need to use on average 15-25% of new oak. Our barrel cellar is temperature-controlled so that we can guarantee good cellaring conditions, which is important since our wines are distributed on average 3 vintages before current year." Then I inquired about their vineyard practices and vinification. "A basic summary would be: viticulture très raisonnée, soil work, trellising, complantation to preserve our old vines. Every soil is worked and a lot of attention is paid to each of them. Our average yield so far is 25 hl/ha (compared to 16 hl/ha in 2012 to 33 hl/ha in 2011). Our approach is to understand the terroirs and test different viticultures (organic and biodynamic) so that we can judge the one which have the best results. Regarding the winemaking, the extraction lasts between 2 and 3 weeks. Whole bunch is only used on old vines and in hot vintages - it is the only way to get a good stem ripeness. In 2015, there is 30% whole bunch as a volume and everything else was destemmed. Pigeage are mainly done 'à froid' for the first couple of days when the alcohol is not too high and then we do remontage. The vinification temperatures never exceed 28 degrees Celsius. For vinification we have no recipe! Every vintage, every terroir is treated independently. We harvest with a large team of around 70 people, which is another investment! So, harvest period is very short on a very small surface, which guarantees a good timing for picking at the right maturity." Finally, I asked about plans for the future and when will the renovations in the house be finished? "Our plan is to keep on working our vines and better our understanding of our terroirs. The house will progress when we will have the time for it."

Wine Advocate (92)

The 2014 Moulin A Vent Clos de Londres is another micro-cuvée that comes from a parcel just outside the château and for that reason the Parinet family believe that the previous owners paid a lot of attention to it. It was bottled in December 2015. It has an attractive bouquet with raspberry coulis, wild strawberry and bilberry that is well defined and seems to gain intensity in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp, slightly chalky tannin. This seems fresh and tensile, displays a light oyster shell note towards the finish that lingers in the mouth. You have the feeling that this will have more to give with 2-3 years in bottle and it is an exquisite take on Moulin-à-Vent that will give a decade's worth of drinking pleasure. Château de Moulin-à-Vent is one of the historic estates in Beaujolais, one that I had not been to before. So when Edouard Parinet invited me down, I thought I would take this opportunity to discover this revived estate that is beginning to produce some of the best wines in the appellation. Winemaking here dates all the way back to 1763 when Philiberte Pommier began making wines at the property (although records suggest that winemaking stretches back to 1732 when it was known as Château des Thorins). For many decades it produced a single cuvée from its diverse array of terroirs and as a bottle of 1991 showed, some of them can be rather fine. But in 2009 it was sold to Jean-Jacques Parinet, a Parisian with a lifetime passion for wines. He began by splitting up the 37 hectares of vine into separate cuvées, aiming to reflect the heterogeneous terroirs of Moulin-à-Vent. It is a long-term project. Clearly the renovations in the house are ongoing and I must admit that I did worry about getting electrocuted every time I went to the lavatory. It needs a bit of TLC but there is a lot of charm to this château and there is a great deal of investment into both the vineyard and the winery. Anyway, I asked Edouard Parinet some questions and he kindly replied in detail to give further information. I began by asking what inspired his father to purchase Chateau du Moulin-à-Vent? "We were both inspired by a family challenge and I was really into wine, maybe even more than my father! When considering buying a wine estate there are not so many options when you are looking for high potential and a historic appellation with affordable land prices. Moulin-à-Vent ticked all these boxes. Jean-Jacques (and his generation more globally) probably have considered for decades Moulin-à-Vent as a high-end appellation for wine, these wines being marketed pretty high in the 1960s and 1970s. Château du Moulin-à-Vent was the right match for a high potential domain sitting on terroir-rich soils!" I then asked for specific investments made at the property since 2009. Edouard replied: "The first big investment was the vat room in 2009, so that we immediately profit from well-equiped, clean facilities. The combination of stainless steel tanks with temperature control system is key for us in the vinification process. For the last 7 years we have been investing in the vineyard to rediscover perfect vegetal material and for this we have trellised the entire vineyard, complanté vines where they were missing and purchased new machinery. There are many ongoing trials at the domain as part of the investments in terms of trellising, pruning, soils and selection massale. We have also expanded the surface under organic viticulture to around 5 hectares and also 1 hectare under biodynamics. Our futaille [which you might translate as barrel regime] is mature enough so that we only need to use on average 15-25% of new oak. Our barrel cellar is temperature-controlled so that we can guarantee good cellaring conditions, which is important since our wines are distributed on average 3 vintages before current year." Then I inquired about their vineyard practices and vinification. "A basic summary would be: viticulture très raisonnée, soil work, trellising, complantation to preserve our old vines. Every soil is worked and a lot of attention is paid to each of them. Our average yield so far is 25 hl/ha (compared to 16 hl/ha in 2012 to 33 hl/ha in 2011). Our approach is to understand the terroirs and test different viticultures (organic and biodynamic) so that we can judge the one which have the best results. Regarding the winemaking, the extraction lasts between 2 and 3 weeks. Whole bunch is only used on old vines and in hot vintages - it is the only way to get a good stem ripeness. In 2015, there is 30% whole bunch as a volume and everything else was destemmed. Pigeage are mainly done 'à froid' for the first couple of days when the alcohol is not too high and then we do remontage. The vinification temperatures never exceed 28 degrees Celsius. For vinification we have no recipe! Every vintage, every terroir is treated independently. We harvest with a large team of around 70 people, which is another investment! So, harvest period is very short on a very small surface, which guarantees a good timing for picking at the right maturity." Finally, I asked about plans for the future and when will the renovations in the house be finished? "Our plan is to keep on working our vines and better our understanding of our terroirs. The house will progress when we will have the time for it."

Wine Enthusiast (94)

One of the single-vineyard wines from this producer, this wine delivers structure and intensity. Just now mature, its smoky fruits and ripe tannins are beautifully integrated. The wine could age further, but is totally ready now.