Description
“The Janin’s estate is one of the leading lights of the Romanèche-Thorins. Its manicured vineyards are predominantly planted in manganese-rich soils that emphasize the wines’ spicy, very original taste of terroir and improve their ageing potential.” Bettane & Desseauve’s Guide to the Wines of France
This is the area of Burgundy that delivers the greatest values in red wines and when you consider that quality Moulin-à-Vent can easily live and develop for 40 – 50 years, you can hardly have too much of the stuff – you can expect something really special from a grower of this calibre.
Janin’s seven hectares of Moulin-à-Vent vines are scattered over 10 different parcels. Old vines, low yields and organic/biodynamic viticulture are the norm. No wonder La Revue du Vin de France lists Janin as amongst their top six Beaujolais growers. The wines are raised in the same huge 35/hl barrels first purchased by Eric Janin’s grandfather and are neither fined nor filtered. They are some of the most age worthy wines from the region with a structured, mineral, ferrous intensity that screams “granite”. This is in fact one of the very few Beaujolais estates forced to strictly allocate their wines … hence the very limited quantities we have available!
This juicy, Beaujolais-Villages was previously called Les Vignes des Jumeaux and comes from just 1-hectare of vines split across Romanèche-Thorins and Beaujolais-Lancié, on the foothills (piedmont) soils of both Jumeaux – an old alluvial soil mixed with granitic scree and stones – and the pink granite of Les Peloux. The age of the vines is an impressive 60 years, and these cultivated, low-cropping Gamay plants deliver the kind of depth and personality that’s rare to find at this price. Due to the paltry yields of under 10 hl/ha, Janin was forced to destem all his 2016 cuvees. Fermented in concrete tanks and bottles after 10 months in tank, this is a wine whose purity, freshness and classy texture punch well above its level.
RRP $41
