Tasted in Moulin à Vent with Michel Rovere & Nadine Gublin, 21 February 2022.
Domaine Labruyère
310 Des Thorins
71570 Romanèche-Thorins
Tel: +33 3 85 20 38 18
www.domaine-labruyere.com
More reports with Domaine Labruyère
Nadine and Michel on 2021:
“Large losses here not just the frost but mildew too – less than 10 hl/ha – so the pruning for this year is far from easy. We are not yet feeling the effects of this low volume as 2018/2019 are the commercial vintages right now.”
Nadine and Michel on 2020:
“For 2020 nothing is bottled yet – we will do that in March. It’s still the classic 4 cuvées here. About 38-40 hl/ha but that’s about average for the domaine. The harvest started very early, Friday the 22nd August but in good conditions – finishing 1st September. Hot for sure but with lots of maturity and a richness of sugar – at the same time lots of tartaric acid – a phenomenon of concentration. Unsurprisingly, lots of dry material in these grapes. Plenty of whole clusters were retained for the fermentations too, despite that the colours came out practically black. Long fermentations though – and quite laborious. Our highest degree was 14.8° – similar to 2015 but less ‘sudiste’ than 2015 as the acidities are much better – we like the balance – even the last harvested grapes had a pH of 3.2!”
The wines…
Possibly the best set of wines I ever tasted here – and that’s from somebody who tends to prefer the 2019s over the 2020s!
2020 Moulin à Vent Coeur de Terroirs Vieilles-Vignes
This label since 2012, a blend of parcels of 8-10 ha depending on the vintage. Currently racked into in Cement for last part of elevage. Predominantly from granite soils rich in quartz.
Lots of colour. Round, comforting, almost a little inflexion of chocolate. Mouth-filling – concentrated yet still fresh – really great texture. That’s really a seductive wine.
1.7 hectares worth, of south-east facing granitic plot with clay. Single parcel. Mainly 600-litre barrels here with some destemming. This will be racked in the coming days.
Wider, fresher, more floral. A little gas. Fine energy and despite the concentration, this is a wine of freshness and energy. It tastes of its elevage more than MaV today, I feel, but fabulously crafted wine – it’s certainly excellent and with a little more development I think it could be great!
Share this clos with Jadot – on granite rose and sand direct south-facing, taking the name of the parcel like the last wine. 1.75 hectares worth. 70-75 years-old vines. This was the first to be harvested and was all destemmed. 2/3rds in 600-litre and the rest 228s – about 10% new wood. Another to be racked in the coming days.
Like all the wines here – and almost every year – deeply coloured. Smaller but beautifully fine nose – really an impression of silky elegance despite the obvious depth of material – faintly mineral at the base. Lots of gas. A suggestion of barrel flavour but also more structural in style with plenty of finishing bitters – an extra level of complexity and more to wait for. That’s also excellent wine, possibly great – I’m really impressed by the finish of this.
A monopole. O.92 ha, 70-year-old vines (the rest were all 50), sometimes worked with a horse. From the top of the parcel on what is basically decomposed rock – there’s no real soil. The vines sit below the Moulin.
Deeply coloured – I can just about see through this. Yet the nose is airily attractive and perfumed – that’s really a beauty. Fluid, open, melting with fine flavour. This is obviously a great wine in 2020 – I can only say bravo – it’s the old cliché – the iron fist in the velvet glove, but it fits perfectly! A great wine.