Moulin a Vent 1929

Daniel Johnnes
July 3, 2025

As I stepped into the cool wine cellar in Rye, New York, I was entranced by the stacked cases and loose bottles of Chateau Margaux 1928, Cos d’Estournel 1929, Yquem 1928, Hermitage 1935, Cote Rotie 1929, Batard-Montrachet 1928, Montrachet 1935 from Comte de Moucheron (whose parcel later became part of the DRC Montrachet holding) half bottles of Richebourg 1917, and demi-johns of Madeira and Taylor Port 1928.

As a testament to the refined and educated taste of this collector, there was also a case of Moulin a Vent 1929 “Les Carquelins” from Maurice Crozet.

I spent years trying to find out about Maurice Crozet and what became of the estate. Finally, my friend Alain Graillot from Crozes-Hermitage enlightened me saying the domaine no longer existed but had some of the best vineyards in Moulin a Vent and Fleurie. At the time, Alain was establishing his own winery in Beaujolais so he was spending a lot of time there meeting and talking to the locals. Alain was a bit of a Renaissance man in the world of wine. He knew almost everyone in every region of France and almost always had the inside story.

He told me the Crozet family sold the Carquelins vineyard to both the Jean-Louis Dutraive and Alain Coudert families, which became the foundation of their respective domaines. So the Carquelins ended up in the hands of two of the best Beaujolais producers!

I knew Beaujolais could age but 80, 90 years and still be drinkable?

There was only one way to find out. This all happened right around the time of the early days of La Paulée. It must have been 1992 when Dominique Lafon, Jacques Seysses, Patrick Bize, Jean-Pierre de Smet, Etienne Grivot and Christophe Roumier came to New York to do what would later (in 2000) become La Paulée de New York. We were sitting in the dining room at MONTRACHET about to go out to lunch when I decided to serve them this wine blind.

The consensus was that it was a Grand Cru Burgundy from 1976!! Wow. It was youthful yet fully mature. A real wine. Not at all the tutti-frutti style of commercial Beaujolais but a wine of terroir and made to age.

The only way to taste the glories of a 96 year old Moulin a Vent and some younger yet mature Beaujolais will be on August 6 at our Pressoir Beaujolais Dinner.