Jean-Paul Brun Terres Dorees Moulin-a-Vent Les Thorins 2015

Jean-Paul Brun wants to make "old-style" Beaujolais and his vinification differs from the prevailing practices in the region. He believes that the charm of Gamay's fruit is best expressed by the grapes' indigenous yeasts, rather than by adding industrial yeast. Only a minimal amount of S02 is used at bottling to keep the wine fresh and "headache-free". Fermentation naturally produces a lot of CO2, which acts as protection against oxidation during aging; leaving some in the wine at bottling time also helps to keep it fresh. Filtration is also minimal so that the wine keeps its original fruit and aromas. Brun’s wines are not ‘blockbusters’ in the sense of ‘big.’ The emphasis is not on weight, but on fruit: Beaujolais as it once was and as it should be.

100% Gamay. Jean-Paul bottles a straight Moulin-à-Vent but additionally does two lieu-dit-specific versions: this one is Les Thorins, which sits just below the other, La Rochelle. The fruit for this bottling comes from vines aged 60+ years old on sandy. decomposed-granite soils with iron. The wine is vinified like the other Terres Dorées reds: the hand-harvested bunches are destemmed and fermented with native yeasts and without sulfur in concrete. The maceration is lengthy like that for the regular Moulin-à-Vent bottling, lasting up to 6 weeks; it too is aged in wood before being bottled with a light, non-sterile filtration and minimal sulfur.