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Appellation recognition
decree : 11th September 1936 but in 1924 the Mâcon court
in charge of resolving wine cases concerning fraud set out the geographical
limits for the Cru which, in a way was birth of the Cru 10 years before
the AOC law was passed.
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Surface area
: 655 ha shared between the Rhône and Saône-et-Loire
departments
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Production
(in 2006) : 34 593 hl, or 4.6 million bottles
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Grape variety
: gamay noir à jus blanc
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Colour
: red
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Pruning type
: short goblet leaving 3 to 5 branches on each vine and a maximum of
10 eyes (buds).
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Number of plants
per hectare : from 8 000 to 10 000.
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Communes with
the right to the appellation name : no commune bears the name
Moulin-à-Vent. The Cru covers two villages: Romanèche-Thorins
and Chénas.
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Soil type
: crumbly pink granite arenite called gore, infiltrated here and there
with seams of manganese. This mineral constitutes one of the appellation's
characteristics.
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Vinification
: in whole bunches. This vinification type is specific to the Beaujolais
winemaking area. Length of fermentation on the skins: from 9 to 12 days,
depending on the vintage and the winemaker. After vatting and the first,
alcoholic, fermentation, the grapes are pressed and the run off and
press juices are assembled then the second, malo-lactic, fermentation
takes place. Its role is to render the wines supple in removing their
acidity. In order to get the most out of their grapes and give added
structure to their wines, quite a few winemakers use techniques to immerge
the grapes in their own juice during the first fermentation such as
placing a grid over the cap to hold it down, pushing the cap down or
pumping the juice from the bottom of the vat over the cap. |
