Philippe Pacalet's Moulin-à-Vent 2018 brings a Burgundy winemaker back to the Beaujolais where he started. It is Gamay from the cru known for structure and age-worthiness, made the same way as his Côte d'Or reds.
About This Wine
Moulin-à-Vent, named after its old windmill, covers about 600 hectares of pink granite laced with manganese and quartz, and its wines are known for more structure than most Beaujolais. 2018 was hot and dry, with no real rain across most of the region from summer until after harvest, and picking began around 28 August. Water stored in the soil after a wet spring kept the wines fresher than the heat suggests. Seven years on, the fruit has softened into spice and earth.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Violet, raspberry and dark cherry, with a light liquorice note.
- Palate: Silky and energetic, with red fruit, spice, fresh acidity and an earthy undertone.
- Finish: Persistent and lively, with floral perfume and fine mineral grip.
Serving & Food
Serve cool, at 14°C, in a Burgundy glass rather than a small tumbler. Drink over the next few years. It suits bistro food: saucisson, coq au vin, steak frites, or Hainanese chicken rice.
How to Enjoy
Anyone curious about how far Gamay can go, and relaxed dinners with charcuterie or roast poultry.
Product Details
Producer: Philippe Pacalet
Origin: Moulin-à-Vent, Beaujolais, France
Appellation: Moulin-à-Vent
Vintage: 2018
Grape: Gamay
Volume: 750mL
About the Maison
Pacalet grew up in the Beaujolais natural-wine movement. He is the nephew of Marcel Lapierre of Morgon, and he was already working the vines around Villié-Morgon as a teenager. From 1985 to 1991 he worked with his uncle, at the time when Lapierre and his neighbours were rethinking how Beaujolais was made, with healthy fruit, native yeasts and little or no sulphur.
He then moved north to the Côte d'Or, where he made wine for someone else for over a decade before starting his own label. Moulin-à-Vent is where the two chapters meet, a Gamay treated with the whole-bunch ferments and patient barrel ageing he uses for Pinot Noir.