($28, Wilson Daniels): Ever since the Parinet family purchased this iconic property in 2009, they have been making marvelous wine.  They focus solely on wine from Moulin-à-Vent, one of the top crus of Beaujolais.  Moulin-à-Vent is home to well-structured rich wines that often need years of bottle age — these wines are as far away from insipidly fruity Beaujolais-Nouveau as you can get.  Their Couvent des Thorins is the most accessible and approachable of their wines.  Still, it is not the grapey, easy-to-gulp type of Beaujolais.  Rather, it has a firmness that implies a serious wine — which it is.  You can almost taste the granitic soil.  It would be an excellent choice for coq au vin this fall.
88 Michael Apstein Sep 2, 2014