2023 Moulin-à-Vent La Rochelle

Chateau du Moulin-à-Vent stewards 30 hectares of vine that average around 50 years in age and naturally produce low yields. There are six single-vineyard cuvées—Le Moulin-à-Vent, Les Thorins, Aux Caves, Les Vérillats, Champ de Cour and La Rochell—as well as two micro-cuvées, Clos des Londres and Grands Savarins, all within the ambit of the château building

“Two thousand twenty-three was a bizarre vintage,” proprietor Edouard Parinet told me when I visited his winery, flanked by Head Winemaker Brice Laffond. Parinet had just shown me a fascinating historic map by agronomy engineer Antoine Budker from 1869, in which Budker classified the lieux-dits. “There were some wet periods that caused mildew, and then dry and warm periods, but there were no hail or frost episodes. In the end, the ripeness was perfect, and the harvest took place in good conditions. It was one of our largest yields, at 40 hl/ha. Everything was ripe around the same time, so we picked over six days between September 5 and 11. Since the stems were very ripe, we used more whole bunch—around 50%—in the cuvées. In the end, 2023 was a pretty homogenous vintage.”