Color / Grapes
Red/Gamay
Region
Beaujolais
Appellation
Moulin à Vent "La Roche"
Features
Situated at the top of the slope, just below the famous windmill, our parcel extends south-eastwards. Its sandy soils, which are exceptionally thin and low in water reserves, push Gamay to its extremes in years with low rainfall.
Vinification
Picked and sorted by hand, then mainly de-stemmed, the grapes macerate slowly over the course of three or four weeks. Indigenous yeasts are used throughout the fermentation period, and extraction by means of both plunging and pumping over takes place on a regular basis.
Winemaking and bottling
The wines are aged in our historic cellar for 10 months, a period spent in oak barrels, both old and new. The oak used to make the barrels comes from the forests of Alliers, the Limousin and the Nivernais.
Tasting / Food pairing
La Roche is a wine of great tension, with lots of minerality and precision. It is very linear in style, a characteristic that makes it a particularly apt match for complex and refined dishes.
Preservation
The wine needs two or three years to reach its harmony, and can then age comfortably for several decades.
Vintage
Winter 2013-2014 was particularly mild and rainy. With only
four frosts over the course of the season and temperatures
averaging 1°C higher than normal, this was the thirdmildest
winter since 1900. As a result, the first signs of rising sap
were seen around the start of March, and the first budbreak took
place mid-month. In fact, 2014's budbreak was one of the earliest
ever seen - comparable with the notably early budbreaks of
2007 and 2011 - taking place, as it did, three weeks ahead of the
average set over the course of the past 30 years.
The arrival of spring saw little change, with temperatures regularly
registering 1-2°C above average for the season. These summerlike
temperatures were accompanied by a significant drought, which
held until the start of June. Under these conditions, the vines grew
rapidly, although the pace slowed somewhat during May, when
temperatures cooled somewhat. The return of higher temperatures
towards the end of May sparked the vines' flowering, which
unfolded in ideal climatic circumstances.
On 28 June, part of Burgundy was struck - once again - by a hailstorm.
Even though Beaujolais was spared, this event seemed to mark the end
of an idyllic spring. The summer that followed was quasi-autumnal in
nature: July and August were notable for their cool, rainy weather. This
slowed the ripening process down, bringing it back on schedule.
Luckily, the return of a settled period of warmer weather towards
the end of August and continuing on throughout September allowed
the vines to resist disease pressure and the grapes to ripen evenly,
both in terms of the balance of sugars and acidity and in terms of
polyphenolic ripeness. As a result, harvest, which began on 13
September and finished on the 27th of that month, took place in ideal
conditions. The white wines - made from Chardonnay - are both fresh
and elegant, while Gamays are smooth, with silky tannins.
The 2014 vintage unfolded in a similar manner to the 2007 and 2011
growing seasons, with a summery springtime and an autumnal summer.
2014 is, therefore, a paradoxical vintage, and one that has avoided
the curse of vintages ending in '4'. It is absolute proof, if proof were
needed, of the old adage that 'août fait le moût et septembre le vin'
(August ripens the must, and September ripens the wine).