Philippe Pacalet, 10 years

Reception at Pacalet Beaune, Burgundy
It was almost yesterday. It's been 10 years since Philippe Pacalet set up his négoce venture. To mark this anniversary, he organized a festive reception at the winery facility in downtown Beaune. Friends, importers, customers, many people came here to enjoy this beautiful june sunday. There was no discourse or other formality, but it was a treat from whatever point you look at it, and the fact that you were poured different Pacalet wines all day was not the least of them...
After working 10 years for Prieuré-Roch (1991-2000), Philippe Pacalet, who as the nephew of Marcel Lapierre didn't lack a rich background to inspire his winemaking vision, started his winery in 2001, using the best selected terroirs of Burgundy, although he didn't have the money or the financial backing to purchase any vineyard there. He would just let aside the property thing and concentrate on winemaking and quality, renting small plots here and there from vignerons he could trust regarding the vineyard condition. And going even further than just buying grapes, he would take care by himself of the vineyard side of the job, so that he could get the right quality of grapes on harvest day. This work scheme paid off pretty fast and the wines of this landless winemaker soon stood out, with most sales being for export from the start. Although this use of rented vineyards can be considered similar to the purchased-grapes scheme favored by commercial négoce houses, the focus of Philippe Pacalet was not to make large volumes from easy-to-sell Appellations. What he learned from both his uncle Lapierre and his former job at Prieuré-Roch was to make quality wines through a low-intervention, patient vinification mode.

Wine chat in the facility As an appetizer for this anniversary day, there was a beautiful Pacalet Bourgogne Rouge 2010 poured from magnums inside the chai. Generic Burgundy is usually a minor Pinot Noir, grown outside of identified terroirs, but I'd be happy to have this one everyday on my table, believe me...
The winery, for those who haven't been there is a simple, basic building with a large 19th-century cellar and was previously owned by the De Montille family. See this story, also this one or further, this one, to look at the facility (yes I know, I'm very lucky...). It sits along a quiet street near the Beaune railway station, just opposite a building housing Taransaud (the cooperage). When he purchased the place, Philippe Pacalet just modernized a few things inside but didn't turn it into a sleek and stylish shop window, and the facility stil has this real something with an authenticity feel.
The event was supposed to start at 11am, B. and I, plus her brother who lives in Chalon-sur-Saone arrived there at noon maybe. The Bourgogne Rouge was a good surprise, this light-colored 2001 Pinot Noir was savoury and easy, a good introduction before more elaborate wines, and it helped us all socialize in the best possible mood. There were many different people there, winemakers, restaurateurs, immporters from Japan, Italy and Brazil, a cooper (Grenier) and it was for us the occasion to say hello and chat with a few acquaintances. Philippe among friends I asked Philippe about this start 10 years ago, he says that he had no money, no vineyards, what he had was a know-how, what he learnt on the job at Roch, and he had well-timed advice from people around him. 10 years after, even if he says that he doesn't pretend to have succeeded in every field, he is still around, working with a staff of 7, and he found this central building in Beaune to vinify and raise his wines. Let's remind that he has been working during several years without a central facility, his wine being vinified and stored in up to three locations around Beaune that he rented to different people (see this story where you can see a couple of them). Not the easiest way to work, but chais and cellars are another sought-after rarity in this part of Burgundy, after vineyards. He says that his central goal in this venture was to make good wine, real wine, and everything turned around this ultimate goal, not the other way around. Thierry Allemand Buying grapes is not uncommon in the region, some vintners (in addition to the négoce houses) do it sometimes to complement their own Appellation portfolio with a desired appellation on which they don't own a plot. For a more precise wording, he adds, he doesn't exactly buy grapes, he pays a rent to the owner for his vineyard, this rent being calculated along a certain, hypothetical yield per hectare, even if he doesn't get close to this yield. Because with his vineyard management philosophy, he will almost certainly have lower yields compared to what the conventional trade would make usually, but by paying the rent as if, the grower doesn't loose. In the long term, in addition to paying the rent to the owner, he gives him confidence because at the end the wine made from his plot is not just another appellation wine, it's a unique, sought-after product. Monica Asked about his volumes at the beginning of his estate 10 years ago, Philippe Pacalet says that he made 22 000 bottles then, compared to about 45 000 now. He started with plots in Pernand-Vergelesses, Aligoté, Meursault, Corton Charlemagne, Charmes Chambertin, Beaune les Perrières, Nuits Saint Georges, already a good base. He aknowledges that there had been lots of work upstream before the start, to get rental access to these vineyards. In 2002 he found many interesting vineyards, also with prior preparation work, like the Chambolle Musigny. He found the plots also by word of mouth, his reputation helped, meaning, you know, a serious vintner who pays on time, no trouble and so on. He has also someone who makes patient searches for him, a courtier en vignes (vineyard broker). This person knows the intricate world of vineyard landlords and old Burgundy families, the owners of these potentially-available vineyards not making wine themselves usually. You just don't find the vineyards like that, it's a grey market and you have to know this world and its rules. So now and then he would add another vineyard parcel, like in 2004 he got his Ruchottes Chambertin and his Gevrey-Chambertin Bel Air as well as some Chablis, or in 2005 Gevrey Lavaux Saint Jacques... He says that sometimes the owners have a small valuable vineyard that they don't exploit really, they're waiting for an opportunity. Like 10 years after trying, he got another small surface of Beaune 1er Cru Village, the equivalent of 2 or 3 casks. He keeps getting small gems like that from time to time, old vineyards of course here too. There is a big inertia in these researches but it pays off, one day or another. When he began to dig for vineyards in the mid 1990s', he got the results in 2001 or 2002 at the earliest. Beyond the inertia of this patient work of finding parcels, sometimes things don't work, like for the Chambertin Clos de Béze, which they found but for a short time, the rent lasting a season only. With Mr Ito of Oeno Connexion Asked about his vinification work between 2001 and today, wether he changed his handling of the winemaking during these years, Philippe Pacalet says that he is maybe less fundamentalist regarding the clarity and the élevage, meaning that he is taking more care not to have too much sediments in the bottles. He also finetunes the élevage, rolling the barrels with the Chardonnay for example to mix the lees with the wine without using a stirring tool. As I had also asked if he used SO2 in these early years, he says he did a bit for bottling, like he did at Prieuré Roch also. He adds that when you have an élevage of 18 months, you're obliged to put some SO2 at bottling. on the other hand he never used SO2 at harvest, when the grapes arrive at the chai. Pacalet Gevrey Chambertin 2009 Speaking about the whites again, Philippe Pacalet says that an important step of their vinification is that here they only press whole clusters, there are tannins in the stems and it plays the role of some sort or pre-fining. But in order to press whole clusters, he adds, you need lots of time, it is a patient process, like spending 8 hours on a press load resulting in 4 or 5 casks. You need time, people to help, hygiene and method. This input of stem tannins in the white wine is important, and Bernard Noblet at Romanée Conti does that too, by the way. When you don't add sulphur it gives a lightly brownish note to the color of the wine, but it's not really a problem because later when the fermentation takes off, the color gets back to yellow. In short, when you press with the stems, the juice reamains clear all the while retaining enough lees for the exchange with the wine. You need lees, he says, when you plan to raise your Meursault for 15 or 16 months in casks, lees are very important. The problems with some Burgundy whites 10-15 years ago which didn't stand came from the fact that they hadn't had these rich lees to exchange with, to make them strong. Musique à boire The whites, like the reds, aren't filtered, they don't really need to because at the end of the élevage they're usually pretty limpid. When they do the pre-bottling racking, if there seems to be a protein haze in the wine, they let it rest 2 or3 months in a vat for settling down. Recently they racked the Monthelie and the Chablis and the wines are resting for 2 months, which is pretty short because it was a low-protein year.
Back to this anniversary day and the Pacalet wines that we were treated with : we had this Burgundy red 2010 that I liked, then a Gevrey Chambertin 2009, very nice, more classy. Then a Pommard 2009, comparatively more austere (after the Gev-Chamb) but Still in its infancy I think. B. liked the Pommard a lot and I trust her. Then we had some Puligny-Montrachet 2009. This Chardonnay was feeling like silk paper for me, with a light woody feel at the beginning. The nose was not woody at all, but precise and mineral. And as time passed and the wine's temperature in the glass raised (it was a hot day), the wine became more rich and opulent.
The last treat before we left was this Monthelie 1er Cru Clos Gauthey 2008. I don't know why but I liked very much this Monthelie, it was alive and fresh and joyous, and the spiraling temperature in my repeatedly-filled glass didn't hamper its character. Cheaper than the Puligny, I found several Pacalet retail prices on this page (a wine shop in Bordeaux), and this Monthelie cost about 40 € a bottle. Philippe Pacalet told me that he makes only 3 or 4 casks of it, and the vineyard is a nice walled clos. Wine pours after the lunch And for the reds, he manages to bottle without too much turbidity because in the long keep it can create problems (he isn't that much concerned by the visual part of the turbidity). And for the reds, they get the cluster-filled vats dry (égouttage) after doing the cluster punching with the feet, but they get only 15 % of the juice there. And when they bottles (after having let the wine rest so that it settles down), they leave the most turbid part in the bottom of the cask and drink it themselves. This is less wine to sell of course, they're far from reaching 300 bottles a barrel, but this is what they do. And they choose high-pressure days (very important he says, to bottle clear wines), even though these are days they should be in the vineyard too...
Back to the sales : 10 years ago, he sold almost all the wine abroad, now still 80 % of the wine is exported. He didn't keep wines before, for longer aging. Now, he began to keep some vintages, like the 2008. He says that it's interesting for the people in a few years who will want to buy older vintages (in case they didn't stock up themselves). He also has a few Charmes 2007, Pommard 1er Cru and so on.
Japan is still a big buyer of Pacalet wines (the biggest), with exporters like Oeno Connexion (Mr Eriko Ito) and Nomura Unison (Mr Tetsuki Takezawa). Brazil (World Wine) is now second in terms of volumes, this speaks length about how this BRICS country grows... He says that it is also a question of agents and their dynamism, this can make a big difference. He sells well also in Belgium (R&R SPRL, Robert Vanderhove), Italy (Balan), Denmark. Both Italy & Denmark (Vinrosen) are where he makes his highest sales in Europe. In the U.S. the wines are sold through Louis Dressner Selections [Edit : now_2013_ through Return to Terroir]. Sales in Taiwan (New Century wine) are growng too, he says. They sell in Korea too. Imports should start in Shanghai soon with KC International, a new player bringing natural wines into mainland China.

asked about the season in 2011, Philippe Pacalet says that since early april the weather is beautiful, no stress, no disease pressure, everything fine. Things are one month in advance, precocious but balanced. They sprayed half less than usual. They just had trouble at times to find the workforce to tye because the foliage growth was unusually rapid. They only made two anti-mildew treatments so far, this is well under the rule at this time of the year. They tend to use only sulphur powder because the temperatures allow it, instead of diluted sulphur, it's softer.

Comments

[Rick Rainey]

About 5 years ago I spent a day with Mr. Pacalet and for a week or two it looked like we were going to import the wines for the NY/NJ market. I was very excited indeed to see the possibilities with this interesting producer. Louis Dressner was able to provide broader distribution for Philippe in the states, a good thing, and our import deal fell through. Fortunately, my wife owns a store so on occasion I still get to drink these very interesting wines.

Good for him he has made it 10 years - not an easy thing in that part of the world.

As always - great reporting.

[Roelof Ligtmans]

Hi Bertrand,

I'm intrigued by the remark on the use of sulphur in the vineyard this year. Being a vigneron myself (Mercurey), I treat my vines with "souffre mouillable" ("diluted sulphur"), with a dosis of 6 kg / hectare. A "poudrage" of sulphur powder requires 30 kg / hectare of pure sulphur - you can not enter the vineyard for days after! So I do not see it as being "softer", indeed, it is regarded by many as the "cure if everything else failes". Please explain.

Thanks,

Roelof Ligtmans
Domaine de La Monette

[Bertrand]

Interesting question, Mr Ligtmans, I'll ask him soon and post the answer.
Philippe Pacalet uses actually Algosouffre which is a mix of sulphur with algae and other things. It does make more than 6kg per hectare but it's still softer than a diluted equivalent.