Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020 - 44

Top 100 Wineries

O LD WO R LD

Château du
Moulin-à-Vent
BRICE LAFFOND

FRANCE | BURGUNDY
New owners have resuscitated this historic
estate by growing a range of compelling siteexpressive wines.
UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF THE POMMIER family,
this estate gained international acclaim in the
mid-19th century. By 2009, when Jean-Jacques
Parinet purchased the Château du Moulin-àVent, the once-storied property at the heart
of Beaujolais' ﬁnest terroir was selling virtually all of its harvest to négociants. Parinet had
made enough money in IT to invest in replanting the vineyards at high density and to update
the cellars. Working with his son Edouard and
winemaker-viticulturist Brice Laffond, the team
looked to the north and adapted Burgundy techniques to growing and making their wines. They
use no insecticides in the vineyards, till the soil,
and have started small-plot experiments in biodynamics. In the cellar, instead of working with
carbonic maceration, Laffond partially or fully
destems the grapes before a cold soak, and later
ages most of the wines for 12 months or longer
in barrel, aiming for ageworthy, site-expressive
Moulin-à-Vents. -C.W.

Bouchard Père & Fils
FRANCE | BURGUNDY
Bouchard's 2017 reds earned this domaine its seventeenth
Top 100 award.

FREDERIC WEBER

2017 Echezaux Grand Cru ($360, 95 points)
This wine has the energy and stamina that deﬁnes
grand cru Burgundy. It comes from just under an acre
of 40-year-old vines in the northern end of the appellation, on the hillside overlooking the Clos de Vougeot. Winemaker Frédéric Weber fermented it with
ambient yeasts and 20 percent whole clusters, part
of the lot in tronconic wooden vats, the rest in stainless steel. Aged 14 months in barrels (30 percent
new), it's deeply ﬂavored, a well of cherry-scented
fruit that lasts with nuance and power.

2016 Moulin-à-Vent Les Vérillats ($59, 93 points)
This east-facing parcel sits on a hillside that slopes
towards the center of the Moulin-à-Vent appellation, fully exposed to the winds. The vines grow in a
thin layer of sandy soils over granite rock-rock that
seems to be there in the wine itself, with mineral tannins encouraged, perhaps, by the deep-rooted vines,
by the wind, or by the year the wine spent in barrels
(mostly old), followed by six months in stainless-steel
tanks. Those distinctive tannins lend structure to tart
cherry ﬂavors and deeper blue-fruited notes.
FOUNDED:
FOUNDED:

1732
OWNERS:

The Parinet family
WINEMAKER/
VITICULTURIST:

Brice Laffond
ACRES OWNED:

2016 Moulin-à-Vent Champ de Cour ($63, 93
points) Champ de Cour grows in clay-rich granite on
an east-facing hillside that rises toward the moulinà-vent (the windmill) at the top. This wine balances
power with elegance, lasting in layers of pomegranate and herbal spice with a ﬂoral tension. Fermented
mostly as whole clusters and aged in a combination
of old barrels (70 percent) and stainless-steel tanks,
this wine is all about youthful generosity.

PRODUCTION:

9,000 cases
ESTATE GROWN:

100%
IMPORTER:

Wilson Daniels,
St. Helena, CA
44

1731
OWNERS:

The Henriot
family
WINEMAKER:

Frédéric Weber
ACRES OWNED:

2017 Moulin-à-Vent Couvent des Thorins ($30,
90 points) In the 18th century, this estate was
known as the Château de Thorins, before the cru
(and the estate) was renamed in the 20th. This wine
is made from three parcels on the eastern slope
below the windmill, where the Parinets grew a rich
2017 with silky tannins.

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2021

2017 Pommard 1er Cru ($125, 93 points)
This is a blend of estate fruit from a scattering of
plots in Pommard, all the vines between 50 and 70
years old. The time it spent in oak reads in its sandalwood scents, but with time, the wine begins to unfurl,
revealing ﬂoral tannins and sumptuously dark fruit.
Graceful and aristocratic now, this should show even
better after some years in the cellar.

321
ANNUAL
PRODUCTION:

ANNUAL

OVER MORE THAN 200 YEARS as a négociant,
Bouchard has been steadily accruing vines from
choice parcels throughout Burgundy, assembling
one of the most formidable vineyard portfolios
in the entire region. Today the domaine's holdings encompass about 450 plots over 321 acres,
212 of which are classiﬁed as premier or grand
cru. The Henriot family purchased the estate in
1995, revitalizing the brand with an injection of
funds to improve the vineyards and winery-in
2013, they received HVE3 (Haute Valeur Environnementale) status, a French Ministry of Agriculture certiﬁcation that mostly follows organic
principles, with an added focus on biodiversity.
Almost all the parcels are viniﬁed separately by
winemaker Frédéric Weber, an Alsatian who
landed at Bouchard by way of Champagne and
Beaurenard, in the Rhône, and who has more
than 250 vats at his disposal in the gravity-ﬂow
winery the company built in 2005. After blending, the wines age in Bouchard's cellars, a vast,
cool, humid space that reaches 32 feet below
ground. These wines are built to age-as evidenced by the strong performance of three
2013s in our tastings. -C.W.

N/A
ESTATE GROWN:

N/A
IMPORTER:

Maisons &
Domaines
Henriot, NY

2017 Beaune-Grèves 1er Cru Vigne de L'Enfant
Jésus ($180, 92 points) Perhaps Bouchard's most
famous vineyard, this 9.7-acre monopole came into
the domaine's possession in 1791, when church properties were sold after the French Revolution. In 2017,
it produced a wine with dark cherry fruit that melds
smoothly into the oak, the weight of its concentration
lifted by the ginger bite of the tannins and an intense
ﬂorality.

Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020

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