2021 Philippe Pacalet Ladoix Blanc

Region: Burgundy, France

Grape: Chardonnay

Culinary Suggestions: Sushi/Sashimi, Soft Cheeses, Oysters, Fried Fish

Practices: Sustainable

About

I first picked up a bottle of Pacalet's wine some years ago in Shibuya, Tokyo - there is a particularly good wine shop there in the basement of the Tokyu department store (RIP). I had, of course, heard and read about his wines but now I was holding a bottle. My sense of wonder satiated for the time being, so I purchased it and brought it back home to Sydney where I let it sit and waited for the right moment to open it. It was a 2003 vintage Beaune Rouge 1er Chouacheaux; he was mentoring Fanny Sabre at the time (following the early death of her father) and this vineyard is one of her plots so the wine must have been some kind of payment in metayage. I opened it during the Christmas period at home with a few family and served it cool into a decanter. After some time, I poured a glass.. willing it to be great, and it was - sensually, emotionally and gustatorially! I put a note in my mind to call on Pacalet one day and happily this offer is the 13th vintage we work together; and what a beauty it is!   

There are a lot of winemakers people like to call “legendary", Philippe Pacalet has become one such winemaker, but his fame was earned not only for his skills in the cellar. It is because he is one of the strongest living links to two of the most seminal figures in artisanal French winemaking: Jules Chauvet, and Marcel Lapierre.

Philippe is Burgundian, but from a little further south than Beaune – he is the nephew of Marcel Lapierre, the renowned ‘natural’ winemaker from the Beaujolais. Initially Philippe worked in the Beaujolais with Jules Chauvet, considered to be the father-figure of the ‘natural wine movement’ from 1986 until Chauvet’s death in 1989.

In 1991 Philippe jumped from Beaujolais to become the winemaker at Domaine Prieuré-Roch in Nuits St.Georges, he stayed here until 1999. From 2000 he began his journey with his own label, while also making the wines for and with the Sabre family in Beaune. Philippe’s first vintage under his own name was 2001 and now he is dedicated solely to his own wines.

His nuanced take on viticulture and viniculture - organic, biodynamic and low-intervention practises, without being bound by rigid rules - resounds with the young winemakers making an impact in Burgundy, and produces wines of incredible freshness, purity, elegance, and finesse. There is always a knock at his door from someone who needs to know something or wants a piece of his wisdom; he is incredibly knowledgeable.