2023 Domaine Les Gryphées, Moulin-a-Vent "En Morier"

Many decades before “Morgon,” “Fleurie,” and “Brouilly” became household names among young sommeliers at the best restaurants across the country, there was one undisputed champion of Cru Beaujolais: Moulin-à-Vent. Indeed, if you could time travel to Paris just before the onset of WWII, you would see that these wines used to command the same prices as top villages Burgundy like Volnay and Vosne-Romanée. Why? Because this Cru village has a little secret in its soil—which we’ll explain in detail below—which adds a richness and a structure that is singular among the region and lends extraordinarily long life to these wines. Small wonder that the French nicknamed Moulin-à-Vent “The Lord of Beaujolais Wines.” And when you farm old vines with purpose, and use old-school “Burgundian” winemaking techniques, like the talented team at “Les Gryphées,” you end up with a stunningly complex, built-for-the-cellar beauty that easily rivals much more expensive cousins to the north in the Côte d’Or. This