Description
Domaine de la Tour du Bief, Moulin-à-Vent
Gather round everyone, because this $32 SommSelect exclusive hails from a historic “Grand Cru” site that was once consumed, priced, and admired on the same plane as Pommard, Hermitage, Meursault-Charmes, and Bâtard-Montrachet. Already intrigued? Then brace yourself for the following: In the 1800s, several elite Burgundy villages were granted the rare privilege to append the top vineyard to their name which gave birth to Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanée, Puligny-Montrachet, and Romanèche-Thorins. Obviously, we know about the world-renowned fame, high prices, and luxurious appeal of the first three, but what of Thorins? This ancient lieu-dit makes up a small piece of legendary Moulin-à-Vent, the undisputed “king” of the crus—in fact, wines from here were labeled “Grand Cru Classé” as late as the 1970s! And if there was ever a producer to emphatically prove and revive “Thorins” premier status of yore, it’d be Domaine de la Tour du Bief.
We discovered this 17th-century domaine while in France two years ago, and have now had the privilege of exclusively importing two vintages. These wines are incredible: Today’s 2019 comes from premium, 80+-year-old raw material that generates (1) excruciatingly low yields and (2) Gamay of insane purity, concentration, and complexity. Forget Beaujolais, and forget Burgundy too—if you’re a true admirer of fine French wine, today’s epic Moulin-à-Vent is guaranteed to keep evolving and providing limitless thrills for many years to come. Enjoy.
NOTE: To prove that these wines can age, proprietor Edouard Parinet was also kind enough to part with a microscopic trove of his 2013 vintage which can be purchased here.
Burgundy will forever and always be my favorite wine, and I always feel compelled to remind everyone that Beaujolais is in fact part of Burgundy. Accordingly, I get immense pleasure from learning and traveling about this historic French region, so you can imagine just how thrilled I was to have Edouard Parinet explain his fabled terroir in vivid detail. Really, the rich history was the main reason he acquired 17th-century Domaine de la Tour du Bief back in 2010. This purchase came with several hectares of ancient vines located within historic “Thorins,” a renowned site once mentioned in the same breath as Côte de Nuits’ finest.
Most of Parinet’s mature Gamay vines have been buried in Moulin-à-Vent’s signature pink-granite soils since the 1950s, and the oldest are just months away from crossing the century threshold. From them, he harvests some of the lowest yields imaginable (far less than typical Grand Cru yields) in order to ensure every grape that enters his ancient cellar is of optimal ripeness and quality. Here, 70% of the crop is de-stemmed and a three-week fermentation follows after a brief cold soak. During this time, he employs a gentle pump-over regimen. The resulting wine is transferred into concrete vessels for 15 months.
If you’re seeking juicy, brambly, crunchy Beaujolais, this wine is not for you! This is astonishingly nuanced, sublime, and complex red Burgundy that has more in common with a structured Côte de Nuits. But then again, that’s the singular beauty of old-vine Moulin-à-Vent raised by a cellar wizard. This medium-bodied stunner effuses superbly lifted aromas of black cherry, wild raspberry, licorice, dried red plum, damp rose, cut flower stems, crushed granite, and hints of baking spice. As the wine opens up during a 30-minute decant, it gains profundity and introduces several new dimensions of depth and texture. This is as scarily good and pedigreed as red Burgundy comes, so savor it slowly in your largest Burgundy stems around 60 degrees. Space out your remaining bottles over the next decade-plus. Cheers!
