When we first stumbled upon wild-eyed Laurent Gauthier, he seemed a man of few words. It could just have been that he didn’t understand our mangled French. Laurent makes an excellent Moulin-a-Vent called Cuvee Etalon, a dense and fleshy interpretation of the Gamay grape. Moulin-a-Vent is one of the ten “ Cru” villages of Beaujolais, all of which enjoy superior soil rich in granite compared to the rest of the region. Moulin-a-Vent always tends to be the fuller bodied of all the Crus, and is one of the wines of the Beaujolais that ages 30 years with ease.
Despite having bought annually since our first visit in around 2004, there was a 10 year hiatus before we visited again (since when we have been dropping in more frequently). Laurent was certainly a man of few words when we first visited. He might have been grappling with our accents and restricted vocabulary. He seems to have become a bit chattier. Either that or our French has improved a little. “See you in another ten years then?” he said as we went. “Haha – maybe sooner!”
