Louis Jadot Moulin A Vent Clos du Grand Carquelin, Chateau des Jacques

Description

Moulin A Vent Clos du Grand Carquelin is a single vineyard Beaujolais made by Domaine Louis Jadot at their Chateau des Jacques property.  Louis Jadot bought Château des Jacques in 1996. It is situated in Moulin à Vent, between Fleurie and Chenas, and has a 27 ha vineyards of ‘Moulin à Vent’. The 5 ‘Clos’ cover an average of 19.5 hectares. The Moulin à Vent wine is now referred to as the “King of Beaujolais”, and is considered to be the most Burgundian Cru of Beaujolais. Geological origin and soil composition are quite different from the Côte d’Or and is much more suitable for Gamay grapes rather than Pinot Noir.

The soils of the “Clos du Grand Carquelin” vineyard are quite light, made up of sand and a little bit of clay, lying on a bedrock high in manganese. This helps give the wine its deep colour. The vineyard covers 5 hectares and, of course, is 100% Gamay. All picking at Château des Jacques is done by hand. The grapes are left on the vine to ripen for as long as possible and after harvest they are sorted by hand. The wine is vinified in closed vats with pumping over, and then aged in oak barrels for 12 months. One part of the grapes are de-stemmed.

If you have only ever tried village wines from Beaujolais, I think you would be surprised by the quality of Jadot’s single vineyard wines.