Grange Cochard is owned by James and Sarah Wilding originally from the cathedral city of St Albans near London. Their new English project is a wonderful old estate house in Morgon, one of the two or three most famous villages in Beaujolais, making Beaujolais as a Cru. They have eight hectares of Morgon some of which are on the volcanic and prestigious Côte du Py. They've got old vines, neutral fermentation, in large seasoned casks with no oaky flavour.
They adopt a policy of minimum intervention and allow only very low sulphur levels. All their wine are left for a season to age in bottle to bring out full expression of the characteristics of the terroir. Their top two or three wines are as good as established wines in the Beaujolais estate at double or triple the price and are wonderful; the best of Beaujolais with all the positives of very fine wine without base-notes and gravitas. Château Grange Cochard, Villié-Morgon, 69910, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France |