The Marchand 2008 Morey-St.-Denis Clos des Ormes offers another instance of striking synergy between the naturally pungent, bittersweet herbal tendencies of this terroir and the winemaker’s inclusion of 100% stems. Sea salt, celery root, fennel, rhubarb, strawberry, and red currant mingle on a tenderly-textured, juicy palate, unperturbed by one-third new barrel, loaded with inner-mouth herbal essences, and finishing with pungent persistence as well as noteworthy levity. This should preserve its fascination and elegance over at least the next 6-8 years, and represents an admirable depiction of a long-celebrated yet nowadays – so it seems –sadly neglected cru below the Clos de la Roche. 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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