For context, here’s a pretty good explanation from his Australian importer:
Claude Maréchal is a winemaker who most people have not heard about, especially outside France, despite his estate being rated at the same level as Dujac, Carillon, d’Angerville, Ponsot and Sauzet in France’s most respected wine guide - La Revue du Vin de France.
Now in his fifties and having befriended the late Henri Jayer, he follows in his mentor's footsteps using the same meticulous approach to quality in the vineyards and the cellar. Of course, he doesn't work the same exalted vineyards as Jayer did (he doesn't even have any land in the Cotes de Nuits) but his methods are the same and the results are brilliant.
His principles in the vineyards are straightforward: the vineyards are plowed, no herbicides are used, treatments are kept to a minimum and the pruning is severe to keep yields low. Vinification takes place in open wooden vats, all grapes are totally destemmed (à la Jayer), and fermentation is not induced by adding cultured yeast, so it can take a few days to start (a "natural" cold pre-maceration) using it's own. New barrels are added every year for maturation, but their proportion stays very low in order to produce wines where fruit dominates. It is important to stress that there is no recipe here. Winemaking follows a general theme, but techniques may be changed from year to year to suit the conditions of the vintage.
Claude's wines are not expensive but, due to their quality, are incredibly hard to find and sold on allocation.
Burghound says:
"The quality of these wines is nothing short of phenomenal compared to the usual quality of their respective appellations."
Here’s the ecstatic review of this Volnay from the French Guide Hachette:
“God only made water, but man made wine," wrote Victor Hugo. This man is Claude Maréchal, who, with his wife Catherine, has reaped a new prize. With its intense and brilliant ruby color, this presents delicate aromas of morello cherry, blackcurrant, and prune, beautifully blended with spicy touches. Fresh on the attack, it charms with its elegant palate and fine tannins. "The class of a premier cru," concludes an enthusiastic juror. It is truly a village. While it is already a good wine to drink, this wine deserves to wait three years before accompanying a fillet of beef en croute.
And the Swiss Burgundy Report:
A deep aroma but with flashes of good freshness. Lots of mouth-filling volume, an extra dimension of flavour too. Very long. Vines next to Pommard
And from Andrew Guard:
“From a high slope facing Monthelie this is always a superbly high-toned wine with a beautiful, very sensual aroma. Gorgeous cherry stone and crushed strawberry with a floral lift and deep mineral depth. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and very soil-driven in personality, with a sappy core of stunning fruit, ripe, seamless tannins and great focus and grip on the very long, very elegant and vibrant finish Top! “
Which is pretty much how I would describe the Henri Jayer wines I’ve had. (The last being the 1985 Echezeaux - which now sells for over $20,000…so I doubt I’ll try it again!)
The only Marechal Volnay of any vintage (and it’s a great one) still available in the US.
