Yohan Lardy Moulin-a-Vent Les Michelons 2024

Drink it now or cellar for up to 10 years. No need to decant, but best to open it half an hour before service. After extensive experience at various wineries around the world, Yohan Lardy decided to return to France in 2012 and acquire a small, old vineyard of about 2 hectares to produce his own wines, also leasing other vineyards from local winemakers. His winery now comprises about 7 hectares spread across the Beaujolais wine region between Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, and Chénas. Both in the vineyard and in the cellar, the approach is sustainable and fully respectful of nature and the terroir, free of pesticides and chemical inputs and with minimal use of sulfites, only during the bottling process. The Gamay grapes come from a plot located in the commune of Michelons, one of the most renowned in the Moulin-à-Vent appellation. Here, the vines, perched on a hillside at about 300 meters above sea level and planted between 1911 and 1950, enjoy southern exposure. After manual harvesting and whole-cluster vinification with indigenous yeasts, the finished wine rests in oak barrels. In the glass, Moulin-a-Vent Les Michelons reveals the distinctive character of the appellation's wines with a lively and fruity aromatic profile featuring notes of strawberry, cherry, and blackcurrant, followed by delicate floral hints. On the palate, it is ample, juicy, and taut, with soft, well-integrated tannins and a pleasant minerality that lingers on the finish. It pairs excellently with all game birds.