Pascal Marchand, Grand Cru Film
When a producer says “I made a 90 minute film chronicling my journey through the 2016 vintage”, the response will likely be a sea of yawns peppered with the odd “tedious!” But when that producer is Pascal Marchand and he says he’ll bring wine to the screening, one or two real wine dweebs might show an interest. Thus I spent a thoroughly enjoyable evening earlier this week with Pascal and a small selection of his 2016s. A brief but dense history of the man Jancis Robinson described as "an honourary Burgundian" might be of use here: Originally from Montreal, Pascal Marchand settled in Burgundy in the 80’s and immediately charmed the renowned Comte Armand who tucked him under his wing and taught the young Canadian everything he knew, Pascal was just 22 years old. Fifteen blissful years later, in 1999, our intrepid hero jumped ship to Jean-Claude Boisset’s brand new conglomerate Domaine de Vougeraie. In both locations, Pascal learnt the ins and outs of making wine all the wh...
