Since starting at The Society in 1986, Marcel has bought countless wines and visited innumerable cellars. He’s been shot at twice, bitten by a ‘mad, biodynamic dog’ in the Loire, knocked out in Buzet and chased by a wild boar in the Languedoc. His conclusion? ‘I’ve had a blast!’
For our region-hopping highlight reel of bottles featured in 1874 magazine, we charted a similar route to the 3,000-mile French odyssey he’s made so many times over the years, beginning in January 1987. ‘There have been some epic journeys,’ he told me. ‘Sancerre in a blizzard, springs to mind, and some amazing storms and floods. And in the old days you used to cross the Channel by ferry, which could be quite amusing in winter.’
Highlights from Marcel's long career
Shop the wines
Assmannshäuser 'Rotschiefer' Pinot Noir, Künstler 2021
Cassis, Clos Val Bruyère, Château Barbanau 2023
Saarburger Rausch Kabinett, Zilliken 2018
The Society's Corbières 2022
Crémant du Jura Brut, Domaine de Montbourgeau NV
The Society's Champagne Brut NV
The Society's French Chardonnay 2023
Côtes de Provence Rosé, Clos de l'Ours 2023
Côte Roannaise Éclat de Granite, Domaine Sérol 2022
Indeed, our first port of call is Normandy ‘It’s a beautiful place with a good crossing, so it made sense to start here. I arrived one day in 1989 at 6am and thought I’d go and explore.’ These enduring delights were the result: Cidre Bouché Biologique de Normandie 2023, is a traditional, organic sparkling medium-sweet cider to enjoy cellar-cool and the elegant, hugely concentrated Calvados du Pays d’Auge VSOP is delicious with puddings or cheese.
Marcel was our Champagne buyer for many years and there could only be one choice from there: Marcel’s and our great friends at Alfred Gratien. He recalls his first visit in January 1987, with Sebastian Payne MW. ‘I had never been to a Champagne house before. It was magical. The cellarmaster brought up two bottles, they completely blew my head. One was 1947, Sebastian’s birth year, and the other 1955, my year. I can still remember the taste of the ‘55. It’s like listening to music: you can play music back in your mind, and I can do the same thing with that extraordinary wine.
‘Since then, I’ve worked with them, helped them, consulted for them and done all sorts for them. Tasting their vins clairs (the still wines that become the final blend) in January was always one of the great experiences. That’s how I really got to know Champagne.’ Alfred Gratien are unusual in fermenting the still wine in small oak casks, giving The Society's Champagne Brut NV great depth of flavour and a luxurious finish.
Marcel’s affinity with Alsace predates his time at The Society. ‘It’s a region I’ve always loved. Part of my family comes from Lorraine just next door, so I’ve always had an attachment to it. But I never realised how good the wines were. ‘I joined The Society after a really tough tasting Sebastian organised. He lined up a whole load of Alsace gewurztraminers and told me to put them in order of quality. Apparently, I passed. I started buying Alsace in 1989.’
Our much-loved Society’s Vin d’Alsace 2022 a so-called Gentil blend of the region’s noble grapes, comes from Hugel, and the idea was in fact Marcel’s. ‘We were Hugel’s second UK customer (the first was The Savoy) and the first vintage we bought was a blend of sylvaner and chasselas. Being very cautious, The Society only bought six bottles, something that’s always amused me! I liked the wine but thought we could improve it by adding other grapes, and that’s when the Gentil idea started. Hugel’s own-label Gentil is now at least a third of their production, other producers have copied the idea, and it’s gone from strength to strength at The Society and elsewhere.’
Next came a more unusual choice from nearby Moselle. ‘There’s a lovely road that goes through Metz all the way up to Trier passing through vineyards. I stepped out one day and tasted the wines. The reds I think are fantastic.’ Moselle ‘Les Hautes-Bassières’ Pinot Noir, Château de Vaux 2022 is a food-friendly savoury, wine with forest-floor notes, countered by rich fruit on the palate.
Marcel’s second sparkling pick comes from the Jura, ‘a fascinating, small region. They used to make an awful lot of tank-fermented chardonnay that was rather good value, but they had trouble selling it. Then they turned it into sparkling wine, and suddenly there was no cheap chardonnay, but there was excellent fizz! I knew the delightful, bone-dry traditional-method fizz Domaine de Montbourgeau NV, as I used to buy the wines for myself, and it’s now the biggest-selling thing we do from the Jura by a long way.
‘Beaujolais was one of the first places I bought from,’ Marcel told me, adding, rather surprisingly: ‘For me it was perhaps the hardest region. It took me an awfully long time to understand it.’ When I asked why, he explained: ‘I realised I’d been conditioned by Beaujolais Nouveau, and the idea that it’s something you drink young. But real Beaujolais, I think, needs keeping. I chose the 2022 Fleurie from Domaine Montanageron) partly because the wine is delicious and they’re wonderful people, but also because it’s a great food wine. Beaujolais goes so well with so many things and it keeps its acidity.
Marcel’s next choice was Côte Roannaise Éclat de Granite, Domaine Sérol 2022. ‘Côte Roannaise is about an hour from Beaujolais. Same grape (gamay) and soil (granite), but while vineyards are everywhere in Beaujolais, here they’re much more scattered and easier to maintain. I’d often find when Beaujolais was having a tricky year, like in 2004, Sérol’s wine would be fantastic.’
The Rhône’s been huge fun.
‘The Rhône’s been huge fun,’ remarked Marcel with a smile, reflecting on the region many members will associate most closely with him. ‘It has exploded during my time at The Wine Society,’ he explained, ‘for three main reasons. The first was an enormous frost in 1956, which devastated the olive groves (the main crop at the time). When people replanted, they chose more resistant vines instead. So, when you go to the southern Rhône now, you see a sea of vineyards that 70 years ago simply didn’t exist.
‘Next was the spectacular 1990 vintage, when growers left co-operatives and négociants realising they could make their own wine. Life for me as a buyer became very interesting! I now spend more time travelling there than anywhere else. If I’m away three months of the year, nearly two of those are in the Rhône.
‘Thirdly, we’ve had a huge run of brilliant recent vintages. Summers with 40°C were not unusual, but to have the upper 40s over several days, that is. I’ve been conscious of climate change for a long time and always felt we should look to slightly out of the way and at higher altitude places. It’s more hard work, of course, but I think that it’s now paying dividends. While I don’t mind drinking 15% reds, there is a limit!
‘Crozes-Hermitage, Domaine Rousset is by Stéphane Rousset, whose father was introduced to me by Gérard Jaboulet, and the wine shows what I mean about altitude. It’s different from most Crozes-Hermitage as they’re up in the hills, an on granite, and so they make a very different style of wine – much more like a Saint-Joseph or even Hermitage itself. And it’s fantastic.’
‘I chose Vacqueyras Blanc Les Clefs d'Or, Clos des Cazaux 2022 because I wanted to pick a white Rhône. It’s only about 10% of production now, but the demand is huge. People in France have stopped drinking reds, which I’ve never understood, but everyone wants to plant white wine grapes and some seriously good whites are being made. Clos des Cazaux are among the best. They make very crisp, almost Burgundian white wines, which are absolutely super.
‘Provence is a really interesting part of France. 90% is rosé and most of that is not that interesting, but a wine like Côtes de Provence, Clos de l'Ours 2023 is the complete opposite of the industrial pink norm here. It’s a small farm producing handmade, handcrafted wine. They’re lovely, humble people. The wine is great with food and keeps well (I’m drinking last year’s now). It’s also not consistent in colour: one year it’s darker and another lighter, which supermarkets can’t stand. But I’ve never cared about such things!
‘There’s the odd fabulous red Provence and one or two world-class whites too,’ Marcel observed. ‘Cassis is a tiny place, surrounded by limestone cliffs and when it rains the water seeps down through the limestone into the sea, cooling the water. So you have a completely different micro-climate and suddenly you can make white wine! And if you sit down in the port and have a piece of fish with it, it’s heaven on earth. Bone-dry, savoury Cassis, Clos Val Bruyère, Château Barbanau 2023 is one of Provence’s most exciting whites, I think.
The Languedoc’s a very welcoming but demanding place to visit as a buyer.
Our Society’s French Chardonnay 2022 is mostly Languedoc (from Limoux fruit), with a little Burgundian chardonnay, meaning the wine is bottled as Vin de France. ‘One of my big learning experiences was going to Burgundy to a supplier on my own to put together a blend. I’d never done much of that before. At first it terrified me. Especially at that particular supplier, which could be quite intimidating – you walked into the office and the first thing you’d see was a cannon pointing at you! But they were very generous with their time, and I’ve continued to learn a lot by blending wines, particularly how to ensure the wine has keeping qualities.
‘The Languedoc’s a very welcoming but demanding place to visit as a buyer. For red wine, my idea was to not buy too many Bordeaux or Rhône lookalikes. To my mind, the future here is not about planting merlot and cabernet. It’s about cinsault, carignan and varieties like that.
‘Appellations are important, but what really matters is the people. The Society’s Corbières 2022 with its spicy, hedgerow fruit is a case in point. It’s a very well-placed estate that went through ups and downs, but when Pierre Bories took the reins, he turned it round. He’s a very good winemaker and now the wines are motoring for us.
‘When I started, the south-west was tiny for us: we had one supplier. Slowly I began to explore, and yet again had the advantage of being able to drive around as it’s a disparate region of scattered vineyards. I used to drive 1,000 miles in three days exploring. It’s full of amazing appellations with very distinct wines and gradually we got ourselves a really good portfolio. I reckon we have some of the best selections anywhere in the UK.
‘Marcillac is in the middle of nowhere and you have to cross the hills to get there. The vineyards are quite high up and several times when they had snow, they’d actually ring me to say, ‘please don’t come, you won’t get anywhere near us!’ It's so pretty, with its terraces and iron-rich red soil. Domaine du Cros’ wines are fantastic, and I think we’re their biggest customer. I love their Marcillac Lo Sang del Pais 2022 lightly chilled with good sausages or charcuterie.
When you buy German riesling, you buy slightly differently.
To finish, we took our leave of France for two different countries: ‘I love German wine. I was buying Alsace for a time, but then it made sense to take on Germany too. That was another learning experience: I had to understand balance. When you buy German riesling, you buy slightly differently. It isn’t alcohol but acidity that makes all the difference.
‘Zilliken was a grower I introduced. He’s very much in the classical mould: electric rieslings I absolutely love. The future in riesling is dry – 20 years ago, the dry wines were undrinkable, but now they’re superb, partly due to climate change, partly fashion. But I wanted to include Zilliken’s Saarburger Rausch Kabinett, Zilliken 2018 ripe yet steely Mosel as a nod to the classic, sweeter style.
‘We’re also seeing a mini explosion of red wine in Germany, again all to do with climate change. Kunstler have this fantastic vineyard that’s had pinot planted in it since the 15th century. The 2021 Assmannshäuser 'Rotschiefer' Pinot Noir, Künstler is really outstanding. The future of German wine is really exciting.
‘I was Spain buyer for two years,’ Marcel said. ‘We buy The Society’s Rioja Crianza 2019 from Bodegas Palacio and at the time, I tasted their wines and thought they were fantastic. Logistics prevented us from doing an own label at that time, but I’m delighted we did eventually.
‘I love Spain. I could happily have stayed there as buyer, but I had an awful lot to do elsewhere.’
We’re sure readers will agree he did, and we raise a glass to all Marcel has done for our Society and for the wine world in general during his incredible career.
