New to his line-up this vintage, Marchand’s 2008 Vosne-Romanee Les Suchots – from old vines in an upper part of that site, neighboring Echezeaux – leads with scents of game, ocean spray, and star anise. These presage the complexly animal, maritime, and Asian spice aspects of a richly-textured palate that brims with dark cherry and plum. One of the mere two barrels of this beauty was new and has resulted in a slight overlay of resin and caramel notes which however fit the wine’s personality. A burley tobacco note adds to the sense of mid-palate richness and this finishes with the sort of vibratory intensity that renders so many of the best Pinots of its vintage memorable. These barrels were very late to go through malo and Marchand considered the wine more backward than his others so perhaps there will be even more excitement here short term. Certainly I anticipate pleasurable intrigue for at least a dozen years. Quebec-born Burgundy veteran Pascal Marchand (for notes on more of whose handiwork see my report in this issue on the wines of Jean Fery) emerged to prominence as the winemaker at Comte Armand in Pommard (where I met him in his first year, 1985); worked for more than a half dozen years as head oenologist for the Boisset group; and started his own negociant operation in 2006. He works temporarily out of a facility in Nuits-St.-Georges that in his words “is not equipped exactly the way I want,” as a result of which he watches over the early barrel evolution of some of his wines while they still reside in the cellars of their trusted growers, while others are vinified in his facility from purchased fruit, occasionally even picked by a crew he assembles. He is, in short, the prototypical emerging micro-negociant, and if the quality of the 2008s I tasted is indicative of what’s to come, Marchand will soon be even better-known! None of the 2008s I tasted (representing the majority of Marchand’s lots) were due to have been bottled before late May, and most were vinified entirely or majority vendange entier.A Jeanne Marie de Champs Selection (various importers), Domaines et Saveurs, Beaune; fax 011-33-3-80-25-04-81.
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