Never before has the Jean-Pierre Moueix family group of great Bordeaux wines been so prominently exhibited among sommeliers, restaurateurs, journalists and winelovers from Madrid and Barcelona. Various vintages of some of its most renowned brands, with the help of its distributor Primeras Marcas, have been able to be tasted with Edouard Moueix, third generation and general director of a company that has become a hallmark of the best Bordeaux wines.
Up to 82 bottles valued at around 18,500 euros have been uncorked, including the 2009 Château La Fleur-Pétrus (486 euros per bottle). A luxury. These are wines offered for distribution in Spain by Primera Marcas, from group J.
Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix is ??the largest wine merchant on the Right Bank of Bordeaux, distributing fine wines from Bordeaux as well as California throughout the world. Run by the same family since 1937, Jean-Pierre Moueix is ??also the owner and producer of several highly prestigious brands, such as Château La Fleur-Pétrus, Château Trotanoy and Château Hosanna in Pomerol; Château Bélair-Monange in Saint-Émilion; and, in Napa Valley (California), Dominus Estate and Ulysses.
Born in Corrèze in 1913, Jean-Pierre Moueix, Edouard’s grandfather, arrived with his parents in Saint-Émilion (one of the most prestigious areas of Bordeaux, whose jurisdiction is inscribed on the UNESCO world heritage list) to cause of the Great Depression of 1929. Libournais wines, however, were little known at that time. But Moueix was able to spot from his first steps as a businessman his good aptitude for aging “and great power of seduction” thanks, in large part, to the red Merlot variety.
The highlight of his career coincided with the purchase of one of the most iconic châteaux, where one of the most expensive wines in the world is made: Pétrus. Jean-Pierre Moueix saw the importance of controlling vineyard production. Even today they do not irrigate their vines despite climate change, seeking that each year their grapes express the characteristics of the vintage.
Edouard Moieux, who joined the famous family winery group in 2003 after devoting himself to the maritime transport business, highlights the difference in climates in Bordeaux. During his master classes he has also pointed out the differences in rainfall between the various areas and that climate change has been “very good” for Pomerol, especially with regard to the Merlot variety. Global warming today allows them to produce “kinder and more generous wines.” His obsession centers on taming the tannins in his wines.
For all these reasons, Albert Hernández Pagán, member of the commercial management of Primeras Marcas, its distributor in Spain, highlights that “the vintage factor in Bordeaux is super important.” Like his father and grandfather, Edouard Moueix says he is guided above all by the search of quality, “trying to offer only the noblest expression of the terroir” in each of its wines.
He assures that they are not interested in fashion, and adds that the fact of being a family group allows them to maintain their line apart from the changing fluctuations of fashion. What guides them “is the expression of the place, which in Pomerol is wonderful.”
Edouard likes the city of Barcelona despite admitting that he knows little about it. He is attracted by Gaudinian architecture and very pleasantly treasures in his memory the celebration in Barcelona of the 60th anniversary of his mother, Marie-Laure Thibout. He believes that Bordeaux wines are successful in the Spanish market due to their affinity with its gastronomy. He doesn’t like overly wood-infused wines. They seek balance.
He compares the French oak barrels in which his wines are aged to a nanny, a nanny who cares for and trains children without imposing or marking them with her way of being. She has no doubt that “the culture of wine, which involves sharing and enjoying, is wonderful.” And she says they have always worked for the next generations.
