Château de Vaux - Les Clos Pinot Noir 2020
Château de Vaux - Les Clos Pinot Noir 2020
10% discount for 6 or more wines
A refined yet powerful and complex Pinot Noir from the Moselle in Northern France.
Delightfully aromatic on the nose, with black fruits, cocoa, sweet spices, cinnamon. Elegant and structured on the palate, with silky tannins and a deliciously dense mouthfeel. Full of black fruit flavours - wild blackberry, black cherry, blackcurrant - liquorice, vanilla, cloves, and a touch of wood. The finish is smooth, dominated by black fruit and liquorice.
Delicious on its own while pairing beautifully with game meats (venison, rabbit), rich beef or mushroom based dishes, and mature cheese.
Producer Grapes |
Molozay Pinot Noir |
Country Region |
France Moselle |
The Fruit Viticulture |
Estate Grown Organic |
Additions |
Minimal Sulphur |
Weight |
Medium Bodied |
NERD NOTES
Grape varieties:
100% Pinot Noir
Vineyard management:
Organic and biodynamic agriculture certified by Ecocert FR-Bio-01
Winemaking:
For the Les Clos vintage, the grapes are picked at the peak of their phenolic maturity, the vatting is extended, the pressing is even more tender, the aging in barrels reveals the richer materials.
A selection of the best Pinot Noir barrels, from our best terroirs, the three Clos du Château de Vaux are reserved for longer aging, 100% in new barrels.
It will take 16 months for the wine's tannins to become silky, for its aromas to become powdered with spices, for the bouquet to blossom.
In order to preserve all of its personality, this wine is bottled without fining or filtration.
ABOUT CHÂTEAU DE VAUX / MOLOZAY
Norbert and Marie-Geneviève Molozay discovered Château de Vaux in 1999, and set about replanting and extending the vineyard using biodynamic farming practices. Now sprawling 14.5 hectares of diverse soils, the vineyards reside among the hills of Vaux, Jussy, Lessy, and Vic-sur-Seille in the complex Moselle region of northeast France.
Norbert has spent many years working in vineyards around the globe, including New Zealand, Australia, and the United States, along with the French wine regions of Burgundy, Beaujolais, Alsace, and Languedoc. Marie-Geneviéve is among the fifth-generation of a family of wine merchants from Metz. She first studied oenology in Dijon, before training as a sommelier at the Université du Vin de Suze-la-Rousse in the Drôme region.
Together, they have applied their scientific knowledge and hands-on experience to produce a manifold collection of wines that capture the terroir of their region, distinct from neighbouring Alsace.
THE REGION
The Moselle AOC is located in North-eastern France near the border of Luxembourg on the Mosel River (known locally as Moselle). At a latitude of 49°N, this is one of France’s northernmost wine producing areas and one of the smallest at only 70ha. The climate is cool, and soils are dominated by limestone with some areas of marl.
Moselle was once a prominent wine region, but having been affected by phylloxera and the first world war, its vineyards were reduced to a mere 10 hectares by 1985, and the savoir-faire of viticulture suited to this geologically complex topography was lost. And so contemporary winemakers like this husband-and-wife team have leaned towards the experimental to craft an exceptional unique expression.
With such small quantities being produced the wines are very rarely seen on the export market. Although the appellation is small, it is steadily growing. The Château de Vaux has been one of the major players in this revival, restoring old plots, clearing hillsides that have been abandoned for 40 years and replanting noble grape varieties on the best sites.