“With rising prices in Burgundy, for land and for the wines, Beaujolais is becoming an ever-stronger magnet not just for Burgundians but for others from further afield, producers and consumers alike, as Jancis outlined in 2009 – the year of Beaujolais and Beaujolais 2009 – buy, buy! On the showing of this selection of wines from just two producers from Moulin-à-Vent, one of the more northerly of the 10 Beaujolais crus and said to be the longest lived and most concentrated, I believe the 2010 and 2011 vintages were as good as 2009 if not better, with a little more freshness. 

Thibault Liger-Belair, now in Beaujolais as well as in Nuits-St-Georges, and Edouard Parinet of Ch du Moulin-à-Vent rode into London earlier this year with a very specific mission: to demonstrate the wide-ranging terroir within Moulin-à-Vent by means of both a masterclass of recent vintages from different sites plus two vertical tastings from one vineyard each, six wines apiece, from 2009 to 2014. Whereas every inch of vineyard and centimetre of terroir is pored over in Burgundy’s crus, in Beaujolais only a few insiders really understand the very varied sites within Beaujolais, let alone within its 10 single crus (listed in the appellations section of the Oxford Companion‘s Beaujolais entry)…

Château du Moulin-à-Vent (CMV)
“… His father was responsible for the Parinet family’s first vintage in 2009 and Edouard is very keen that Moulin-à-Vent be taken seriously, hence this joint event with Liger-Belair. Parinet highlighted the distinctiveness of their sites even though they are so close together…

• “… CMV dates back to 1732. The vaulted cellar of the domain probably dates back to the XVIIth century
• First vintage by Parinet family is 2009
• CMV exclusively located on Moulin-à-Vent on 13 different lieux-dits
• Harvest, vinification and ageing is made separately, lieu-dit by lieu-dit
• On average 7,000 cases produced every year at a yield of 27 hl/ha
• On average 15% use of whole bunch, 60% use of barrels (of which 15% new oak)
• The CMV vineyard is about 50 years old (some vineyards are over 80 years old) 

“The presentation and tasting succeeded very well in highlighting the wide-ranging diversity within the cru, so often discussed as if it were homogeneous, or contrasted with the other crus but rarely given much closer scrutiny. The 23 wines below are listed by producer, and then by vintage…”