2019 Domaine Jean-Paul Dubost "En Brenay" Moulin-à-Vent, Beaujolais, France

ABOUT THIS WINE

From 60 year old Gamay vines in the lieu-dit of “En Brenay” at the southern end of Moulin-à-Vent, with soils rich in manganese, granite and iron schists. The harvest undergoes a full carbonic maceration of whole clusters over one month in concrete and steel tanks, with twice daily pump-overs. Raised undisturbed through the winter in two-thirds concrete and steel tanks and one-third 500-liter barrels, 1–5 years of age. Bottled with a light filtration and minimal sulphur.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

From his 26 hectares in Lantignié, Brouilly, Moulin-a-Vent, and Morgon, fourth-generation vigneron Jean-Paul Dubost produces wines that combine lusciousness of fruit, mineral rigor, and open-armed friendliness in a way only great Beaujolais can. Jean-Paul assumed control of his family’s holdings in the mid-1990s, gradually steering viticulture toward organic practices, and today all parcels are either farmed fully organically or are in organic conversion. Dubost’s cellar regimen pulls simultaneously from regional tradition and thoughtful low-interventionism: spontaneous fermentations; classic semi-carbonic macerations, with no-destemming employed except for the naturally ultra-structured Moulin-a-Vent; and bottling with extremely low levels of added sulfur dioxide. Rather than conveying an overarching house style, Jean-Paul’s wines articulate with stark clarity their parcels and crus of origin, and the subtle differences he employs in the vinification and elevage of each wine serve only to enhance the transmission of terroir. With Dubost, one feels viscerally the stony snap of Brouilly, the lurking spicy power of Moulin-a-Vent, and the broad generosity of Morgon; and the wines from his home village of Lantignié, which flanks Regnié and Morgon to the west, feel more like great examples of cru Beaujolais than simple villages-level fare.