WTN: Olivier Merlin Moulin a Vent La Rochelle 2018

Very dark. Sweet spice and red berry nose. Soft, juicy, milk chocolate, and a bit of the sweet spice. A proper Beaujolais - not one trying to be Pinot Noir. Easy drink now wine. Moderate 13% alcohol helps. Nice with some barbecued Angus short plate and Mac and Cheese.

Moderate 13% alcohol helps...

Are we really that far gone into global warming that 13% for Beaujolais is 'moderate' alcohol?!! Sounds like upper limits to me.

The Beaujolais I had before this (Desvignes Les Impenitents Morgon 2018) was 14%! So yeah, 13% seems pretty moderate.

2018 was a tough year and I know that Beaujolais has gotten above 14% in recent years. But that hasn't changed my view that such levels are outlandish! I still find 11-13% to be the zone, with 13% being the upper edge.

Olivier Merlin used to be a regular visitor to Belgium when I was living there. He is a very nice man to talk to but I thought he had a heavy hand with oak on most of his cuvées. There's no mention of that here, so maybe he has moderated his techniques in a direction which I would prefer.

I agree that 13% alcohol is about the upper limit for decent balance in Beaujolais but there are lots which exceed that nowadays.

Hi Tim,

No oak that I could detect.

The 'milk chocolate' note sounds like oak influence?

It didn't come across as oak to me.