Marchand-Tawse

Marchand-Tawse was formed on 1 January 2011 at Nuits-Saint-Georges by Pascal Marchand, a Montreal-born winemaker who had run his own négociant label since 2006, and Moray Tawse, the Canadian owner of Tawse Winery at Vineland, Ontario. Marchand had previously spent some fifteen years at Domaine du Comte Armand in Pommard, where he took charge of the Clos des Épeneaux at 22, then six years at Domaine de la Vougeraie. The partnership is still in place and he remains involved, latterly alongside his sons. Tawse Winery in Niagara remains a separate Canadian business under the same owner.

The house works mainly as a négociant, buying grapes and wine, but it is not only that. In 2012 Moray Tawse bought Domaine Maume in Gevrey-Chambertin, some four to five hectares running from village plots to Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru. Renamed Domaine Tawse, it is certified organic, worked biodynamically and vinified in the same Nuits-Saint-Georges cellars, with Mark Fincham on the domaine wines and Thomas Dinel on the négociant cuvées. The group farms parcels in about twenty appellations, covering roughly a third of its fruit. Labels run from regional wines to grand cru across the Côte de Nuits, the Côte de Beaune and Chablis.

The reds are Pinot Noir, with dark cherry and spice over a firm tannic frame; Beaune gives redder fruit and a lighter build than the Côte de Nuits bottlings, and Morey-Saint-Denis, set between Gevrey-Chambertin and Chambolle-Musigny, falls between the two. Arcana Cabinet lists three reds from the négociant range: Beaune Premier Cru Les Tuvilains, Morey-Saint-Denis Premier Cru and Pommard Les Vignots, the last a village lieu-dit rather than a premier cru.