Tasting the 2026s … a first sample

My neighbour has a few bottles, tanks, and barrels in his cellar … and this does come in handy from time to time

My neighbour is, of course, Marchand-Tawse with Pascal Marchand and his son Odilon Marchand at the wheel or at the rudder.

I have been very curious… very

The first question is … Has the extreme 2026 vintage produced extreme wines? … and can extreme wines give you true Burgundian pleasure?

One way to find out … the only way … is to taste … early, when they are in barrel and when they are bottled. It will give you a sense of the vintage and an experience that will be invaluable when tasting later in the ageing.

Some say that early tastings (while still fermenting the very last sugar) are impossible and invaluable. I don’t agree … sometimes they are … but mostly you would get some information about the character of the fruit, the acidity and the structure of the vintage,

I tasted a small lineup of the Marchand-Tawse wines in 2026 and must say that the extreme 2026 vintage has produced some pretty exuberant and sometimes rather extreme wines.

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