Domain of the Four Winds

Domaine des Quatre Vents is a wine and a place. The estate, reminiscent of ages past, is an independent producer in a land of negociants and cooperatives. The place is striking, rising above the tiny village and reaching up to a hilltop shrine. The soil is rocky and rugged, the slope steep. The wine is complex, elegant but engaging. Domaine des Quatre Vents is among the elite few of Beaujolais who produce estate-bottled wines that capture the youthful vigor of each harvest, but live to complex, elegant maturity. Although the young wine is ready to drink within a few months of the harvest, bottles 5-8 years old can be magnificent, proving the potential of the often-slighted Gamay grape.

The estate is a clear landmark in the little village of Fleurie. The town itself is famous as one of the ten “Cru” sections of Beaujolais. These ten, all located in the northern hill country of the Beaujolais region, have the highest status and the tightest regulation. They are the highest expression of winemaking art in this unique corner of Burgundy. And in Fleurie, Domaine des Quatre Vents is supreme.

Although slope and soil are very obvious features of the estate, it takes its name from the very reliable windy circumstances of its existence. A visit to Quatre Vents is nearly guaranteed to include a bit of wind. The property rises abruptly from the little village and the vineyards around it. A breeze from any direction causes a stir in vineyards of the Four Winds.

Since the property rises hundreds of feet along the slope, it is treated as three separate parcels. The lower, middle, and upper parcels, although contiguous, enjoy differing micro-climates. In addition to variation in sun exposure and temperature, the slope offers bands of differing subsoil with a gradually deepening clay overlay toward the bottom. An assemblage of fruit from this one famous site offers a palate of flavors as if blending from differing sources. The artful management of harvest has yielded exquisite wine year after year for decades.

The current vintage of Domaine des Quatre Vents is from the remarkable year 2005. This was the year of fine quality, especially for red wines, throughout France. A reasonably large harvest of remarkably uniform fruit yielded rich fleshy wine. The fresh fruit aroma and zesty finish of Beaujolais adds dimension to this richer than normal vintage. While we seldom speak too much of vintage in regard to more ordinary Beaujolais (preferring to drink the youngest available almost without exception), the year of production is a notable factor for wines of “Cru” status. A year or two in bottle will temper almost any of the wines of this class, yielding more austere and more complex flavors. An additional reason to consider vintage is that differences from one year to another can be very meaningful. Beaujolais Nouveau, which comes to us each November in its lightest and freshest form, seldom excels and never fails. We can expect clean raspberry-like fruit character from any vintage of this young wine. Cru Beaujolais, on the other hand, can be charmingly different from year to year. The 2005 model of Quatre Vents is the cream of the crop, rich, complex, and worthy of putting back for years to come. Buy a couple of cases and enjoy a bottle every month or two.

To put Domaine des Quatre Vents in proper prospective, consider the hierarchy of the Beaujolais region. At the base of a rather large pyramid are the wines labeled simply “Beaujolais”. Abundant and inexpensive, these wines are nevertheless well regulated. They must be made from Gamay grapes grown in registered vineyards, and they must follow regulations concerning date of harvest (not too early) and yield per acre (not too much). “Beaujolais Villages” is similar but restricted to a smaller, more northerly, hillier, premium region. The “Beaujolais Crus” are the top villages of the finest section. They are: Brouilly, Chenas, Chiroubles, Cote-de-Brouilly, Fleurie (home to Domaine des Quatre Vents), Julienas, Morgon, Moulin-a-Vent, Regnie, and Saint Amour. At all levels only a few top producers estate bottle wine from a single property.

Taste the “Four Winds”, especially while the remarkable 2005 is still available.

10/04
revised 9/06

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