Moulin-a-Vent Les Greneriers, Domaine de Colonat

An elegant and beautifully balanced expression, rich in voluptuous dark fruit aromas, with a firm and rounded texture and an alluring cherry and blackberry finish. 

Producer Note

Since 1828, Domaine de Colonat has been handed down from father to son, and today it is the seventh generation of winegrowers, Thomas Collonge who runs the estate along with his wife Julie. Since 2008, Thomas has been gradually taking over from his parents, bringing with him an eco-friendly approach to cultivating the 12- hectare estate, which covers seven appellations in the Beaujolais appellation, as well as sourcing grapes from long-term contracts with other growers. In 2017, he started the process of converting to organic cultivation and presently, one third of the estate is organic certified and the estate is sustainably cultivated and certified HVE. Thomas aims to express the very best of his distinctive Beaujolais terroir, and he succeeds, producing classy, award-winning, authentic, and elegant wines with a marked identity

Vineyard

The Gobelet bush vines have an average age of 72 years and are grown in a plot at the foot of the famous windmill the ‘Moulin-à-Vent’ which gave the Cru its name. At over 250 meters of altitude, this south-east facing plot of ‘Les Greneriers’ is renowned for its distinctive soil made up of alluvial-sandy granite which imparts intense colour, richness, body, and long ageing potential to the wine. The vineyard is certified HVE sustainable and they promote a balanced eco-system. Herbicides and pesticides are not employed, and only small, light vehicles are used reducing the impact on the terroir. To prevent disease in the vineyard, the immune system of the vine is stimulated by spraying the plants with infusions. The grapes are hand-harvested.

Winemaking

The grapes were manually sorted and 90% were de-stemmed, leaving a proportion of grapes with stems for complexity and structure. Temperature controlled fermentation took place in concrete tanks with selected local yeast, which has been specially selected from the Gamay grapes in the vineyard. A slow and gentle extraction of fine tannins took place, with a soft maceration with few pump-overs lasting around 14 days. Traditional pressing took place before 70% of the wine was matured in concrete tanks for six months. 30% aged for six months in medium-toast French oak barrels of two years

Tasting Note

An elegant and beautifully balanced expression, rich in voluptuous dark fruit aromas, with a firm and rounded texture and an alluring cherry and blackberry finish

Grape 

100% Gamay