Château Moulinet

The château

Moulinet lies on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, and the Knights Hospitaller kept a stop here in the 12th century; a stone marked with the Maltese cross still stands on the property. The growth was on the books of the Bordeaux trade by 1874, when Édouard Féret’s Statistique listed Petit-Moulinet among the 2es crus of Pomerol under H. Danglade, at 25 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, had it under Jules Dufresne in 1886 and 1893. From 1897 it belonged to R. de Seguin, at 30 tonneaux, and it stayed with him through 1922. The Seguin family ran it until the Moueix family acquired it, and in 2017 it was bought by a private investor with a passion for wine.

Frédéric Redon, an agronomist with the national diploma of enology of the University of Bordeaux, is technical director, with Derenoncourt Consultants and the enologist Frédéric Massie as advisers. The 18 hectares form a single block on the middle terrace of the appellation, on fine gravel and ancient sands over clay subsoils mixed with iron and manganese, the crasse de fer of Pomerol. They are planted 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, 35 to 45 years old on average, farmed without herbicides and held to 37 to 42 hectoliters a hectare. The estate has followed the Bordeaux environmental management system, ISO 14001, since 2018 and is certified Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3.

The grapes are picked by hand, usually between September 5 and 25, and fermented plot by plot in 18 temperature-controlled stainless steel vats, with the malolactic in vat. Château Moulinet ages 12 months, partly in lightly toasted French oak barrels and partly in stainless steel. Clos Sainte Anne, 100% Merlot from the young vines, ages 12 to 18 months in stainless steel only.

At a glance

Appellation

Pomerol

Commune

Pomerol, the middle terrace

Classification

No classification

Owner

A private investor, since 2017

Direction

Frédéric Redon, technical director

Consultants

Derenoncourt Consultants; Frédéric Massie, enologist

Vineyard

18 hectares in a single block; vines 35 to 45 years old on average; 37 to 42 hectoliters a hectare

Soil

Fine gravel and ancient sands over clay with iron and manganese, the crasse de fer Terroir of Pomerol →

Grapes

Merlot 90%, Cabernet Franc 10%

Farming

No herbicides; ISO 14001 since 2018; Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3

Cellar

Picked by hand; plot by plot in 18 stainless steel vats; malolactic in vat; 12 months in French oak barrels and stainless steel

Wines

Château Moulinet; Clos Sainte Anne, 100% Merlot, aged in stainless steel

In history

A stop of the Knights Hospitaller in the 12th century; Petit-Moulinet, a 2e cru of Pomerol, 25 tonneaux in 1874; R. de Seguin, 30 tonneaux, 1897 to 1922