Pacalet 2007 - Pacalet 2008
Philippe Pacalet with Nicolas LuquetPhilippe Pacalet is a vigneron of the young generation in Burgundy. He is 41, was formerly estate manager at the Domaine Prieuré Roch (until 1999), he now rents a collection of vineyard plots in the Beaune area and expertly vinifies his natural wines in 3 differents chais a few kilometers from each other. His wines are now widely appreciated, in France and
abroad .
We visit his first location, in
Beaune. There,

in an old building in the historic part of the town, he vinifies for Domaine Sabre from the grapes of a 2,5 hectare vineyard surface,

scattered over a number of plots : Generic red Burgundy ( Pinot Noir of course ), generic white ( Chardonnay ), a little of Bourgogne Aligoté, Pommard (1 hectare) and Beaune 1er Cru.
Even when working for Sabre, he puts his personal imprint on the wine, and the labels say "Domaine Sabre - Philippe Pacalet". The chai is on the street level, with a large wooden double door opening on the street through a high porch. Underneath is the cellar, composed of several connected rooms. He shows us around. On the street level, an horizontal press, resin vats, cement vats, a 40 hectoliter tronconic cask. Nicolas Luquet, himself a caviste ( pictured lower right ), helps him today and rolls down empty casks to the cellar. Otherwise, he works alone, and has all the work in the vineyard done by a viticultural service company that sends workers on demand for the different tasks along the year. He says in France everything pushes for zero employees, like the dissuasive taxes adding up the paycheck (that doubles easily the cost for the employer), strict work regulations, limited hours. And new layers of costs and regulations have kept piling up since 30 years ...
His viticulture philosophy is close to biodynamic principles, but he prefers not to follow fixed rules or integrate any official certification organization.
__1 First wine we taste comes from a resin vat. Generic red Burgundy. Bourgogne Rouge 2004. Vinified for Domaine Sabre. Plots for this wine are near Pommard, but out of the Pommard Appellation zone.
__2 White. Blanc Aligoté 2004 . For this one, we went down to the underground cellar, a cool vaulted cellar with several connected rooms. In the past , there was no seperation between the cellars along the street. But the next building is the local head office of the Income Tax Administration (Tresor Public) and it is funny to see the cement-block wall closing off the access to the adjacent cellar ... Nose for this wine just taken from a cask : Fresh and fruity. Simple wine. Will be racked in 2-3 weeks .
Philippe Pacalet taking some wine from a cask
From now on , we will taste reds only .
__3 Beaune 1er Cru 2004, with a wine thief, from a cask on street level. Has been resting in casks since harvest (after having fermented for 3 weeks in vats) till beginning 2006. Nice tannins. Robust wine. Some gas remaining at this stage. The wine will get more fleshy with time. He tells us about the quality of the corks, which is important. He uses catalan corks, which are good, hard corks. 49 mm long. Cost is 40-50 Euro cents each . Bottle's cost is comparatively much lower, about 27 cents .
__4 Pommard 2004, from a cask. Also some gas remaining. As he does not force the wine with temperature control or external yeast, the wine quietly follows its own maturation pace. He says, no need to be anxious, the work bring results, sooner or later.
Philippe Pacalet in the Michel-Couvreur cellar
__5 Beaune 1er Cru 2002. The only bottle that he will open.

Same plot as the 3rd wine we tasted. We go out in front of the porch with our glass to enjoy the sun. Nicolas Luquet joins us to taste it [ Picture above, on the right ]. Very nice Pinot Noir. Rich. Comes from plots on "Les Chouacheux", a climat with brown earthy soil , close to "Clos des Mouches" .
Beaune Appellations are numerous, who can say he knows them all ? If you click on the link, then on the map, you will spot "Les Chouacheux", on the lower left end of the purple Beaune 1er Cru zone .
He now shows us his second place, a cellar at "Bouze les Beaune", a village on the hills of Cotes de Beaune that we reach after a short drive. There, under a village house, several connected old cellars, with very cool temperature, something like 11° C. This is the cellar of Michel Couvreur, the high-end whisky maker, who has let part of his large cellar to Philippe Pacalet. He occasionally bottles wine here, manually. The wines that he will pour to us here come from different plots, with a 7,5 hectare surface altogether ( will make 30 000 bottles ), on different appellations .
__6 Gevrey-Chambertin 2004. Comes from a 1 hectare plot in Cote de Nuits. He pours the red wine in 3 glasses with a wine thief. Floral. Will be bottled january-march 2006.
Nature Morte on a cask__7 Nuits Saint Georges 2004. same Pinot Noir, but different geographic situation. Plot with more limestone soil. Earth layer is very thin, the roots reach easily the rocky soil underneath. Nice nose. About the casks, he says that he usually buy 1 or 2 year old casks ("futs d'un vin ou de deux vins", 1 or 2 wines-casks , as we say in France ). He points to the light mould on the wood : This cellar would be perfect for maturing Comté cheese, he says .
C M 04 : sampling Chambolle Musigny 2004
__8 Chambolle-Musigny 2004. Light turbidity. This Cote de Nuits will decant progressively until bottling comes in a year or so. 12,5-13° in alcohol. Delicate wine, rich. SO2 : Only a little bit added for bottling. Maturing wine needs some microbic life for its aromas. So, it is better not to interfere with SO2 in the casks. What will allow a wine to age will be its own structure, its acidity .
__9 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru "La Perrière" 2004. Another Cote de Nuits. Perrière means rocky and alludes to the arid, rocky soil of the climat. Very nice wine. Violet aroma. Very tight.
__10 Pommard 1er Cru "Les Chalins" 2004. Mouth : Harder beginning, sharp finish. From a plot with very thin layer of earth. Hand harvested like in other plots, in grape boxes, with selective picking. Natural stirring of the lees occurs with atmospheric pressure changes. He still provokes stirring twice, usually by just rolling the casks. Speaking of the harvest, which lasts about 2 weeks from september 24-25, he welcomes any student or young foreigner eager to work for him.
__11 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru 2004. Nose : Animal, closed. Fermentation just finished a month ago, there are still remnants of gas. Mouth : Silky. He uses only indigenous yeasts. No herbicide in the vineyard, but regular plowing between the rows.
Les Chouacheux
I took this picture of what I think is "Les Chouacheux" Beaune 1er Cru climat . Sorting out the intricate carvings of the many tiny Appellations ( climats ) from the map and connect them to the actual vineyards plots that you see when you drive there, may be arduous. But I think this is it. The old construction in the center is a stone shelter where workers could rest and hide from heat or cold/rain, and store tools.
Anyone interested in harvesting on his vineyard can fax him in advance to ask , young foreigners are welcome too . Harvest begins sept 24-25 and lasts a little more than a week .
Philippe Pacalet : Le Haut Prieuré 21700 Arcenant . Fax : 33 (0)3 80 61 34 69
These contact infos are no longer valid. See this
Pacalet story for the right location and contact info
Philippe Pacalet (manual corker in the background)
Salut Bert,
I have tasted a number of Pacalet's wines and my views have always been mixed. While I love his whites, I find his reds tend to oxidize quickly and vary from bottle to bottle. But nonetheless, it is nice to see someone making wines in the way that he does, and all at the tender age of 41. Nice post.
Caveman
Posted by: thecaveman | May 05, 2005 at 02:18 PM
Great website. Would like to visit these vineyards.
Please contact me at 301 873 1437.
Hari
Posted by: Hari Singh | July 14, 2005 at 08:56 PM
How can I find Philippe Pacalet
wines in the Chicago area?
Posted by: R L Elkins | November 02, 2006 at 04:31 PM
just opend a second bottle of the bourgogne 2005 while the first one was corked :( this one tastes much better, a bit closed in the nose but firm earthy tannins in the mouth, good wine but far to young
Posted by: Kurt | March 24, 2008 at 08:50 PM
Love the 2001 Pacalet Pommard.
Beautiful fruit floating above an earthy-mushroomy core. Much more enjoyable than the typical Napa/Sonoma Cherry Cola Cough Syrup wine with 14.5% alcohol.
Posted by: Brian | May 05, 2008 at 11:35 PM
Bon jour,
My name is Daniel, I `m from Brasil. Sorry but my french is not very good . Last year I went to Paris and taste one of your wonderfull wines at Sanderens´s restaurant, and liked a lot. Before back to Brasil i bougth a bottle at Lavinia´s store. it was a Saint Aubin, 1er Cru Murgers des Dents de Chien 2008. Magnific!!!
But in Brasil I just can`t find it. So I`d like to know if i can buy some wines direct from you , and how can I do it? . how much? etc.
I am waiting your contact .
Merci , Daniel.
Posted by: Daniel I. Nogueira | January 16, 2011 at 03:52 PM