Tasted in St.Amour with brothers, Cyril and Romain Laplace, 13 July 2017.
Domaine du Moulin Berger
Le Moulin Berger
745 impasse de la gagere
71570 St Amour Bellevue
Tel: +33 3 85 37 41 57
www.domaine-du-moulin-berger.com
This is a family domaine that was started by the grandparents of, brothers, Cyril and Romain Laplace, themselves responsible for the domaine since 2014. There are over 20 hectares, 11 of which are in St.Amour. The domaine has a well set out tasting and reception room but it’s not very well sign-posted from the road. The name of the domaine really stems from there really being an old water-mill here – they keep looking in old markets/brocantes to see if they can a find an old photo – but so far no luck.
The brothers’ main market is France, sold in salons, restaurants and caves à vins. Just a little leaves France, currently leaving Belgium and the UK only. Altogether, 25,000 bottles are commercialised here, the rest is sold in bulk or to the cave cooperative – 5 hectares are with the cave.
Depending on the cuvée ‘There is no destemming or quite a lot.‘
The wines…
They haven’t bottled all the 2016s yet as they say that they still have some 2015s to sell! DIAM5 is the seal of choice for the whole range. None of the wines showed brilliantly today – if I compare with my note from the blind tasting – maybe a combination of the time they were open and/or the small tasting glasses. Based on that I’d recommend to open an hour or-so before drinking – or even decant.
2015 St.Amour Cuvée Flora
Floral is a single lieu dit of 1.5 ha with mainly 90 yo vines. 50% destemmed. Big foudres for elevage. Mainly bottled in June.
Deep colour. The nose smells a little of the glass to start with – that or something sulfitic. Big in the mouth with plenty of energy, really growing intensity. There is tannin here and a coffee, espresso-style flavour in the mid-palate. Good width and strong finishing.
2015 St.Amour (tradition)
All whole clusters a mix of triage at the vine and at the reception if more needed.
The nose is very tight – it’s also a very small glass, which doesn’t help. Again, big in the mouth, more supple, a growing tannin, intense, coffee and saline inflected in the mid palate and long. Still not a wine for drinking right now…
2015 St.Amour Fûts de Chêne
A mix of destemmed fruit and whole clusters. 6-8 months in barrel but old barrels of at least 2-3 years age.
Directly a hefty whiff of vanilla. Supple, a little grain from the tannin takes over from a fine starting texture. Plenty of flavour here, though not so much from the grape I feel. Tasty wine, but not really my style. A modestly mouth-watering finish – the tastiest part.