Tasted with Pascal Marchand in Nuits, 03 December 2015; right, newly married Pascal and Amandine.
Marchand-Tawse
9 Rue Julie Godemet
21700 Nuits-Saint-Georges
Tel: +33 3 80 20 37 32
www.marchand-tawse.com
The Còte de Beaune ‘domaine’ range has expanded here, with another 2+ hectares in 2015. The plan is to separate the Côte de Beaune range to the Domaine Tawse label from the 2014s, officed on Beaune’s boulevard. Domaine Maume will become the face of their Côte de Nuits from the 2015s. All the 1er and grand cru vineyards are ploughed by horse and farmed biodynamically.
Pascal on 2015:
The classic method for elevage maybe isn’t perfect for a vintage like 2015, for the 15s there were some fast malos, personally I would have preferred a little slower. The reds look super, but you had to be careful not to extract too much. given the high alcohols.
Pascal on 2014:
I’m very pleased; I wasn’t sure about the vintage but it turns out to have more strength than I expected. The wines are really expressing themselves since the summer, they’ve made great strides. They are frank wines. I still think it depends on the appellation which is better vs 2013. The Côte de Beaune is definitely better in 2014, it was less so in 2013.
The wines…
Mainly destemmed in 2014 though a couple of wines retained 20-40%, Les Suchots was the exception. Start racking in January, all bottling should be dome by March. We did some of the tasting in the old cellars of Thomas-Moillard which are being used more and more as they are updated for the needs of Marchand-Tawse.
First, Domaine Tawse labelled wines:
A marathon tasting here – but fulfilling on all levels. All wines to wait for, but also all were really top-notch.
2013 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Just bottled, mainly from Premeaux – Grand Chaillots.
Big, faintly perfumed with roses, round, a little tannin but bright, interesting notes of complexity a little pepper spice too. Good finish. A muscular wine as it should be given the location. Very good.
2014 Bourgogne Pinot Noir 47N
47N is the new concept rather than Avallon; Avallon was made up only of villages wine, but given the general market pricing, it was becoming too expensive. Mainly Côte de Nuits fruit but a little Beaune 1er too. Bottled yesterday.
Big, round, but detailed and inviting. More lithe and direct, also a hint spicy but not pepper, lots of good flavour intensity and great fruit. Really lovely! Great finish too.
2014 Beaune 1er Clos du Roi
A new vineyard. ‘Really a Clos within the Clos.’ High in the vineyard.
Dark spicy fruit – quite nice. Big, bright fresh, fleshy fruit but really well-balanced and with structure too. Very tasty wine.
2014 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Lavières
Also a new vineyard, from Henri Boillot
Bright, beautiful fruit – really. Lots of flavour here, really richly fruited but fresh and modestly structured. Modest mid-palate width but a lovely finishing complexity. Super!
2014 Beaune 1er Tuvillains
Bought in 2011.
Deep, narrow nose. In the mouth, direct, more structured than Lavières. Bright, very pretty mid-palate and finishing fruit flavours – a little dryness clinging to the gums – to wait for, but it will be good.
Bought in 2013 but then it was destroyed by hail. ‘In 2014 the hail was early enough that there was actually something to harvest’ – if still only 20% of a normal yield.
Deep, concentrated fruit nose. In the mouth too, here is brilliant fruit, plenty of structure too, but it sits behind. Really a fantastic potential here.
2014 Volnay 1er Fremiers
From the top of the vineyard, next to d’Angerville’s Clos des Ducs
A deep red fruit aroma, rather silky. Like the other wines, lots of concentration, and more than an undertow of slightly dry structure, but very little grain. Lovely dark red cherry fruit in the finish – excellent.
Now the Marchand–Tawse wines:
Really deep but not reduced – tighter up top. Mainly from Vosne side. Big, ebullient, beautiful fruit – not obviously Nuits, very, very tasty, with plenty of structure. Lots of energy – bravo! – faint saltiness too.
From under Les St.Georges.
A wide and faintly spicy nose – very appealing. Big, complex supple and mouth-filling. This tastes really great. Good as the last wine was, this is even more impressive – I find it hard to believe it’s not a 1er cru – a beautiful floral finish too.
This just smells fabulous – I’ve bought this before and I’m tempted again! – Silky, almost richly textured. Really super fruit, richly fruited too but fresh and absolutely delicious.
2014 Fixin
A really super top line of aroma – there are flowers too. A little less flesh, maybe some mineral but a very fine floral impression with the fruit. Super, indeed really super, supple Fixin. Yum!
2014 Marsannay
Really lovely fruit aromatic in these wines – bright but welcoming you with open arms. More depth of flavour, more dimension too. A little tannic grab but no real grain. Delicious flavour again. A faint dry finish again. Excellent.
2014 Côte de Nuits Villages
2/3 coming from south in Comblanchien, the rest from the north.
A tighter nose, deeper fruit below, yet silky. In the mouth too, a little tighter, but the bright yet dark fruit leaches from your gums. Lots of interest here, even after what has passed before. Great finish again.
An assembly of 4 different vines, more from the upper part. Pressoniers, quite a lot Jousie, a little Crais, Journeaux and a hint of En Champs
Lovely nose, bright and deep, dark and fresh with a faint spice – super lovely. An extra sweetness and intensity here – also the structure too. This will need a little time to soften, but the flavours are simply brilliant.
2014 Chambolle-Musigny
From Les Chardannnes
Tighter but with really good depth. More supple, very pretty indeed this flavour, it just keeps getting better and better, but today I’d rather drink the Gevrey, fine as this is…
Jacquines, Raviolles and Hautes Maizières.
Modest intensity but beautiful anyway with a fine floral aromatic. Really a sparkly wine – the complexity ‘pops’ all over the place. Excellent flavour and plenty of depth of flavour too. Another quite delicious wine. A great finish too!
2014 Morey St.Denis 1er Clos des Ormes
Deep, smoky oak nose. Wide and with a fine background fruit flavour. Bright and precise in the mid-palate. Long finishing too. What’s not to like(?)
2014 Morey St.Denis 1er Les Millandes
Plenty of reduction. This is lithe and muscular with a longer impression to the flavours, indeed the finish too. Less precise flavours than Les Ormes, but overall. A more interesting wine. Great finish!
2014 Morey St.Denis 1er Faconnières
Deep tighter up top but there’s complexity here too. A little more structure a little more mineral – a muscular but lithe wine. Bright finishing flavour. All except the shape and structure is more subtle.
2014 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Chatelots
Bright wide and very inviting high-toned aromas. Plenty of structure, but fine depth and concentration of flavour. A little barrique here too. But it will fade. Lots of finishing complexity again. Very fine…
2014 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Cazetiers
Deep, silky impression, very complex with dark fruit – excellent! Lithe wide, super texture, fresh multidimensional fruit, yet there is some power here too. Modestly long. Super but not great…
2014 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Perrières
Ouf! Gorgeous deep medium red fruit. Wide and complex quite high-toned fruit. Mineral and long. A narrow but impressively long wine with a nose to die for…
2014 Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Corvées Pagets
A modest but very attractive dark red fruited nose. A hint of gas but behind is brightness of fruit and plenty of energy. Particularly in the mid-palate to the finish. Lovely…
2014 Nuits St.Georges 1er Richemone
Deep, very faintly reductive. More structure here, quite a lot more. Slowly, but not completely, it melts to show fresh and detailed fruit come back later. A great finish though…
2014 Nuits St.Georges 1er Vaucrains
A little reductive. Bright and fresh but with plenty of tannin too. Not particularly grainy but with a dry edge – really complex though – super finishing.
Deep and super inviting – really a gorgeous nose. A little gas, a little (more than a little) dryness of tannin, but wide, complex and energetic. Massive potential here. Poof! Big finishing too. Wait at least 3 years – preferably 15+
100% whole-cluster, from the top part of Suchots
Ouf! Gorgeous. Deep complex, spicy not a bit whole-cluster in character. Big, mouth-filling, hyper-complex, grand cru style – bravo!
The grand crus…
From Le Rognets et Corton
Beautiful aromatics, part floral with beautiful fruit. Lithe, complex, mouth-watering, no fat, just complex intensity. Really special the finish too – bravo wine.
2014 Echézeaux
From Poulardières this year.
Once more a gorgeous aromatic. Big, complex, energetic. Some tannin but largely covered by the fruit. Narrow finishing but very long. A very good wine, but following some great wines…
2014 Clos de Vougeot
From the Echézeaux side
Wide, deep textured fruit nose. Fine. Seriously great fruit. Compared to many the structure here is only modestly present, but really I think its very well covered. Extra long – certainly after the echezeaux. Super.
A really fresh top line of exquisite fruit aroma. In the mouth, its supple and complex and grows ever more beautifully fruit flavoured. A hit again for Pascal in 2014! Great finishing – super long.
2014 Clos de la Roche
Deep but tight, maybe a little oak spice. Fine but a bit of gas, really excellent growth of complexity but with a little oak flavour too. A tighter wine today but the finish is fabulous…
“What happened to Bonnes-Mares but not Clos St.Denis is not understandable.” Pascal discussing the higher renown for Bonnes-Mares in the last years.
Deep, complex and exciting – it reminds me of de Vogüé’s (shock!) vibrant and complex delivery. No fat, certainly concentrated but the notes are so individual that you don’t have a round impression. Excellent wine. Great wide and open finishing.
2014 Charmes-Chambertin
Bright, deep and just a little texture too. Broad, textured and tasty. Just like it should be. It’s a wide rather than direct wine, with a long fading finish.
2014 Mazis-Chambertin
Wide and complex, very inviting nose, not so deep though. In the mouth too this is a wine driven by its complexity, more than its texture, and then a burst of excellent flavour – super wine.
2014 Chambertin
Top notes and deep notes a tighter width. Really fills the mouth, with layered delivery of flavour. Complex and mouth-watering – extra long – the tannin is 90% covered. Extra long…
Super depth. Tighter above. A little finer texture. Extremely wide in the mid-palate; super top notes and width and length. Really very special!
2014 Musigny
From 2 tiny parcels that normally produce one barrel – in 2014 it’s a bespoke 300 litre barrel. ‘From the bottom; Porcheret bought the land from Christian Confuron and it was planted in 1990 with something like pinot droit but it’s great to see how terroir can be so strong as it is real Musigny – we bought it for a few vintages. Of-course we will slowly replant, but not all at once!’
A modest nose, but one that’s round and floral. Big but not textured, complex and faintly salty. Not the same bravado or overt complexity of many here – but the finish is close to un-ending. It takes a bit of a Bourgogne Chardonnay mouthwash to finally retard the finish. Finally!- the last drops in the glass start to put on more of a show!
Les Blancs…
2014 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Bottled yesterday.
Bright and fresh. Fine, a little citrus and a bright and fresh personality. Green fruit in the finish, and its long with a little tannin too.
2014 Meursault
Wide fresh and a little spicy. Good width of flavour, beautiful fresh and sweetly mouth-watering. This is very good indeed
2014 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Vergelesses (Domaine Tawse)
More compact but fine and pretty high-toned yellow fruit. Wide intense a little sharp but no pain – maybe I should say incisive! A warmer complex ripe lemon fruit in the finish.
2013 Meursault-Blagny
Super, complex and fresh, very faint ginger spice. Big, impressive and beautifully complex. – this is really excellent. Bright and tasty finishing. Very yum!
2014 Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Terres Blanches
100% chardonnay.
More tropical and ripe but fine freshness too. Big, sweet, but fresh and with a juicy energy.
2014 Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Damodes
100% chardonnay. My first white Damodes!
A bright and faintly spicy top note – more mineral. Lots of complexity and quite some intensity in the finish too. Richness but nothing fat. Bravo! Deep and long and interesting…
2014 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Abbaye de Morgeot (Domaine Tawse)
Bright ripe yellow fruit, faintly herbed. Lots of fresh complexity here, direct and certainly mineral too. Fine length. Lovely wine.
2014 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Champs Gains (Domaine Tawse)
Wide and complex with some toasty notes included. A little toast in the flavours too – but this is both broad and fresh – a little more barrel complexity to add the fruit. Excellent. Sweet, warming fruit in the finish.
There is one response to “Marchand-Tawse – 2014”
I had a chance to taste the Morey – Les Millandes a couple of weeks ago at a Lay and Wheeler event. In its price range it stood out head and shoulders among its higher priced competitors. Great perfumed fruit that went on and on and very lively in the mouth too- moreish. If this is the standard , ill be looking out for more from these guys. One of the other stars of the night in my books was a village Gevrey from Dom Maume. I spent a lot of time at M&T table – a sign in and of itself.
I’d say that the standard is pretty consistent William. A place I often buy wines, generally well priced too!
Best….