Moulin-À-Vent

Where it is located
Tech Sheet

Terroir, Climate, Soil

AOC: Moulin-à-Vent
Varietal: Gamay
Terroir: Specific granitic soils (gorrhe), laying over deeper soils rich in manganese and metalic oxides.
Closure: 47mm Diam’s5

The Moulin-à-Vent appellation is located at the southernmost tip of Burgundy, 12 kilometers South of the city of Mâcon. It stands on the 5th meridian, hosting some of the greatest “terroirs” in France, including (from North to South) the vineyard of Champagne, Burgundy, Beaujolais and Rhône. With a vineyard of 600 hectares, Moulin-à-Vent is among the smallest appellations, and is the only one that is not named after a village, spreading over two towns: Romanèche-Thorins, Saône-et-Loire (71) and Chénas, Rhône (69).

How the wine is made

Harvest: Yield 27 Hl/Ha harvested by hand. Harvest is approximately 7 days. Storage: Small 30L boxes. Grapes were sorted on the sorting table before being transferred to the destemmer. Destemming was completed at 60%.

Pre-fermentation: Cold soak for a period of 3 weeks. Techniques of extraction: Remontage during cold pre-fermentation and at the end of fermentation to give more roundness and finesse. Pigeage was completed at the beginning of fermentation.

Ageing:

% of wine oak aged: 60% oak aged.

% of new wood: 10%.

Length of ageing: 12 months.

Sourcing for ageing: French oak from the Allier and Vosges forests.

Heat of wood: Medium heated.

Size of wood: 100% of 228L.

Once the grapes are hand-harvested, they are vinified in concrete tanks. Their excellent thermal inertia allows a nearly zero intervention on temperature management. ‘Remontages’ (pump over) and ‘pigeages’ (punch down) are done from two to three weeks; by the end of this period, the wines are transferred in concrete and stainless-steel tanks for ageing, to keep Gamay’s freshness and purity. The juices from very old vines are aged in oak barrels, whose tannins give opening, concentration and power to the wine, as well as a superior potential of ageing.

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