Château du Moulin-à-Vent

Although the Château du Moulin-à-Vent’s origins date back to the early years of the 18th century, it has arguably reached its apogee under the stewardship of the Parinet family, who purchased the property in 2009. Since then, extensive improvements in the way the vineyards are managed has helped to preserve a treasure trove of old vine material, with some vineyards heading towards their centenary.
The Château owns six different parcels of vines, spread out across some of the best terroirs in the Moulin-à-Vent cru, of which five are planted on the region’s famous pink granite. There are a couple of multi-vineyard blends in the portfolio, but the Château’s true gems are the single-vineyard wines and the micro-cuvées, each of which is based on specific sites within named lieux-dits. The Champ de Cour is the only wine made from grapes grown on a mix of clay and alluvial stones, a terroir which lends the cuvée generosity and richness. Les Verillats and La Rochelle, both from specific lieux-dits, are fine-boned and precise, testament to their stony, free-draining vineyards, and of the two the Verillats is more approachable in its youth, while La Rochelle is somewhat sterner. The zesty, focused Grands Savarins comes from a plot of land situated within Aux Caves, which lies on the borders of Fleurie and shares some of that Cru’s typical nervosity. The wines from the Clos de Londres, a plot located just beneath the eponymous windmill, is an altogether darker, denser affair, but is equally ageworthy.