Since we last spoke with Philippe Pascal, founder of Burgundy's Domaine du Cellier aux Moines, he and winemaker Guillaume Marko have started an exciting new venture in Beaujolais. The new project, Domaine Mont Bessay, located in the heart of the Juliénas Cru, includes not only its Juliénas "En Bessay" but also a Moulin-à-Vent labeled "Le Vieux Bourg."
Pascal and Marko were attracted to the Beaujolais Cru area for its high-quality terroir and relatively affordable land prices compared to Burgundy. At Mont Bessay, they apply the same meticulous approach as at Cellier aux Moines, including organic farming, whole cluster fermentation, gentle extractions, and extended barrel aging.
Despite challenging frost damage and a wet summer in their inaugural 2021 vintage, Mont Bessay's first Juliénas and Moulin-à-Vent releases have already garnered praise, noted for their purity, elegance, and Burgundian-style refinement.
Grape Collective talked with Philippe Pascal (at right in photo with Guillaume Marko) about his ambitious new project.
Lisa Denning: Why did you decide to expand your production to Beaujolais?
Philippe Pascal: The number one reason is that we wanted to have a project in which Guillaume, with me and my family, would be investing together, where he could have a stake in a project, meaning a financial stake. So we are both shareholders of the same level on the project, which is nice. To do that, we looked for an area where we could invest and create something with reasonable investment because we could not go to Côte de Nuit or Côte de Beaune; as you can imagine, it was without question. So we looked for something that we could afford and invest in together. Our idea is to create something that will grow with us, not something where we'll be only following the trend. We were interested in creating something in our region where we could have an impact. Maybe it's a bit arrogant when I say that, but we are in that world to create something in an environment where we can have an impact and not just be a follower.
What exactly are you doing in Beaujolais that's a little different and making an impact?
It's different, but we have the same philosophy in Cellier aux Moines as in Domaine de Bessay: understand and respect the terroir first to grow the best possible organic grapes. We went to the Beaujolais Crus region because we were sure we could make a great Gamay wine from a variety of granitic terroirs. And we fell in love instantly with that incredible Bessay slope in Julienas, as we did 20 years before in Givry with the Clos du Cellier aux Moines. We want to make everything right in the vineyard, to get the best possible grapes and using organic farming and biodynamic techniques helps nature produce the best expression of a given terroir. Then, we take time in the vinification process to extract the perfect natural expression, starting from whole bunch maceration, natural native yeast, longer maceration, and light punching down of the cap.
We are coming with our experience in Burgundy, but the playing field is different. We are no longer on limestone and clay—we're on different soils of granite. We are no longer with Pinot Noir. We are with Gamay. So, we are using our experience not to do the same thing but to make sure that we learn and adapt to these new parameters in order to make a great wine. We don't overestimate our experience, but we use it to make sure that we have a steep learning curve in order to do the best Gamay wine on the greatest Beaujolais terroirs. So, it's a matter of leveraging our experience but not imposing any dogma. There is no dogma. We have only one obsession: what do we need to try to make the best possible Beaujolais Cru wine? According to our vision of what the greatest Beaujolais crus should be.
What, in your opinion, makes a great Cru Beaujolais?
First, the most important thing for me is the quality of the vines. So, in the first year, in '21, we observed the Julienas vines and decided to recruit a large part of four hectares out of eight, which was very important because the vines were not good. They were clones planted in the '70s and '80s that grew very big berries. We realized the quality of the plants was not there and that we couldn't make a good wine with this. So we started replanting very quickly with a massale selection of very fine Gamay. We replanted one acre in '22, 1.5 in '23, and 1.5 this year. Now, we have smaller yields, small berries, and good concentration in the wine.
Number two, of course, for me, is the quality of the terroir. In Julienas, we have a mix of different terroirs. We have granitic soil, sand, and sandstone. We also have some bluestone, which is a magnetic rock. So it's like a puzzle of different soils, almost like a collection, which is extremely interesting, especially with the Gamay grape. It's very different from Pinot Noir, which does well only on limestone, while Gamay can do very well on volcanic and granitic soils. You would dream of having that kind of puzzle in terms of the ground and underground. So we got it. And that's why we picked that place, because we loved it.
And number three, it's the job that we do. We decided to move to organics since the beginning, since 2021. We also practice biodynamics. We do good viticulture to have a small yield and good maturity, and we do winemaking that respects the grape. As for the vinification, we do a very long maceration for Beaujolais—three weeks with very low extraction and some pump over. In Beaujolais, three weeks is very long. it's generally about ten days.
We want to have good tannins and make wines with structure that can last a few years in the bottle. We also use a large percentage of whole bunches to respect the grape and help us start the fermentation very slowly within the berry which helps to extract very fine aromas. The fermentation literally starts inside the berry, and it gives complexity to the wine, floral, and spicy aromas. And after the winemaking, we take time for aging. Beaujolais wines are often bottled 8-10 months after the winemaking, but our wine ages for two winters. So, the 2022 Julienas was bottled on the 1st of March this year, 2024.
Again, we don't do this because this is how we do it in Burgundy. We do it because we believe that great Gamay, made with great terroir and care and time, deserves longer aging to make wine that will live longer. By the way, at the beginning of the 20th century, in Juliénas, Morgan, and Moulin à Vent, the tradition was very much to make wine this way.
It was forgotten with the Nouveau trend, and the economics of Beaujolais changed a bit. Although Nouveau was more prevalent in the southern part of Beaujolais, it was still affecting these villages as well. They lost a bit of their tradition in terms of what I would call serious winemaking, based on the terroir, which deserves more time and care.
So again, it's not a revolution; it's an evolution. It goes back to what a number of people were doing very well one century ago. After World War I, in the great Paris restaurants, Julienas and Moulin a Vent were on all the wine lists, and they were trading on par with some Volnay or Gevrey wines. This was lost after, but I think it's coming back.
Do you notice a difference in the taste of the wines using organic bio-dynamic methods?
Oh yeah, for sure. Absolutely it helps us to be better farmers. So, in a way, it's not because it's organic that it's better, it's because with organic and biodynamic, we are becoming better farmers, more into the anticipation of things like climate change. We do things with more attention to detail and to the life of the plant and to the life of the environment. So this helps us be better farmers; we have better fruit, and having better fruit, we end up making better wine.
How does Domaine Mont Bessay's Juliénas compare to its Moulin-à-Vent in terms of the expression of the wine?
The difference comes from the terroir. The "Vieux Bourg" is a single-spot terroir in Moulin à Vent. It sits on 100% granitic sand and is quite high in altitude compared to other Moulin à Vents. Hence, the wine has a very delicate, flowery, aromatic profile with silky tannins.
This year marks 20 years since you purchased your property in Givry. What's the most surprising thing you've learned about being a winemaker during the past two decades?
It takes time. I realize that if you want to have an impact as a winemaker or as the owner of an estate who tries to do the best possible thing, one step is ten years. It took me ten years to understand that we needed to work on the replanting of Clos du Cellier. It took me ten years to start doing the first whole bunch fermentation with Guillaume's help when he joined. So, don't be in a rush. And start young. I started late.
Do you have any regrets?
Yes, one regret, and it comes back to the idea of the quality of the vines we are using. It took me 15 years to replant all the Cellier aux Moines vines. If I could go back in time, I would do it much faster. This is why in Beaujolais, with Guillaume, in Julienas, we decided to go much faster on uprooting the vines, which were those clones from the '70s, which would take us nowhere. So this is my regret. I have a regret that I didn't meet him before. But on the other hand, I'm happy that we met.
Read more: From Fashion to Fermentation: Philippe Pascal of Domaine du Cellier aux Moines
