Château Moulin “Cuvée des Piverts” 2015

Château Moulin “Cuvée des Piverts” 2015

Grapes: 100% Merlot

ABV: 13%

Region: Fronsac, Bordeaux, France

Winemaker: Bénédicte & Gregoire Hubeau

Viniculture: Organic, low-intervention viticulture

Winemaking: Wild-yeast fermentation in large concrete vats, then 12 months aging in the same vats. No sulfur added. No fining or filtration.

“leading with velvety black fruit, Cuvée Piverts is a mouthful of delight”

“Bordeaux is boring” …said every sommelier ever. I guess the most groundbreaking thing to happen to me over the last couple years in my wine education was to realize that Bordeaux is a thriving, interesting region that is doing more exciting things than many other places in the world. You just have to delve under the surface a bit.

It’s easy to look at the big ‘ole Chateaux of Bordeaux, and realize there’s a certain lifestyle and luxury-branding aesthetic associated with the whole thing. But look past that silly veneer of 1er Cru wealth, Brioni sportcoats, and Patek-Phillipe watches, there’s interesting stories, and even more interesting wines. 

Château Moulin is a project started by the husband-wife team of Bénédicte & Gregoire Hubeau, who manage two stellar little properties in the Fronsac region of Bordeaux, on the right bank where Merlot reigns supreme. We’ve left the land of “Bordeaux-As-Showpiece,” and entered the land of “Bordeaux-by-Farmers,” so it’s not about large marketing budgets and international wine magazines, but about simple folk making honest wines. These two have been at it since 1988, and just doing their darndest to make wines that are interesting and good reflections of the place they come from.

This Cuvée Piverts is a nod to woodpeckers, and the illustration on the bottle denotes the “woodpecking” headache you can get when drinking a wine loaded with extra sulfur and other additives. Winemaking here is totally natural and devoid of chemicals, adjustments, and other manipulations. Hence, you’re drinking the product of a vineyard that is healthy, and a winery that doesn’t rely on industrial tricks to create flavor and stability.

Leading with velvety black fruit, Cuvée Piverts is a mouthful of delight. Ripe plums, blackberries, and red currants create a tension of sweet-tart fruit that finishes with turned earth, bay leaf, chocolate and vanilla pipe tobacco. There’s a lovely snap of acidity and a silky texture on the mid-palate. It’s the Merlot grape at its most honest and unvarnished, and it’s a worthy sip.