In 2018, I quit a marketing job in Barcelona and went to Burgundy to do a harvest with Pascal Clément, a small producer in Savigny-lès-Beaune. He and his wife Amélie took me into their home and made me feel like family. Pascal drove me all over Burgundy. We harvested grapes from Savigny to Meursault, also in Corton-Charlemagne. At one point I drove a van full of barrels from Saint Romain back to Savigny, absolutely terrified, and I didn't crash. So that was a win.
Anyway, now I have his wines at Canary Counter and I'm still a little emotional about it.
Pascal comes from a family of growers. He worked more than 20 vintages before starting his own project in 2012. He owns half a hectare of organic vineyards in Savigny-lès-Beaune and works with another 10 hectares across 29 appellations for his négociant wines. Eighty per cent of what he makes is white, a passion he honed during his years at Coche Dury.
This is Les Planchots, from his own vineyard. It has this smokiness that you can't just call "oak" and move on. It's deeper than that. Profound smoke, like something from another galaxy. Pascal's touch with oak is so precise, so on point, so beautifully made. This one got 16 months in neutral barrels. The wine is salty and ripe and fresh all at once. Green apple, lemon peel, a little something stony underneath. It drinks more like a Meursault than a typical Savigny-lès-Beaune. Definitely age worthy, if you have the patience. I don't, but you might.
Drink it with anything you'd serve with a good white Burgundy, which is to say, almost anything. But especially a roast chicken, a creamy mushroom thing.
