Collection: The Moulin a Vent Terre de Manganese – Didier Desvignes 2019

This was the first wine we ever tasted from Didier Desvignes and so good was it that we immediately went to find him and taste the full range. We bought it immediately!

Didier Desvignes produces this from 80-year-old vines growing in the best plots of manganese-rich soil of his Moulin-À-Vent vineyards. Aged for a year in oak casks, this complex and powerful Beaujolais is a tour-de-force for the region, expertly balancing the freshness of Gamay, the unique minerality of the soil, and the richness of barrel ageing.

It's in a heavy bottle with an elegant wax closure which immediately suggests from the outset an altogether more serious wine than Didier Desvignes' regular cuvées. The colour is atypically deep for a Beaujolais and the nose initially offers balsamic and feral aromas before opening up with ripe cherry fruit and touches of oak spice. The palate, as you might expect, shows greater extraction and concentration than many a Beaujolais, displaying opulent dark cherry fruit, delicate spice, and nicely integrated oak. Although very drinkable already, this age-worthy Beaujolais has the capacity to evolve into something really quite Burgundian over the next five to ten years.

A stunning wine for the season’s foods.