Axel Marchal: “Freshness is in the DNA of Bordeaux: neither green nor cooked”

Axel Marchal, 42, a graduate in chemistry from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, is a university professor of oenology at the Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences at the University of Bordeaux . A renowned consultant and taster, he shares his thoughts on the taste of wine and its evolution, offering a "contemporary" definition of Bordeaux wines.

Southwest. How does a Vosges resident become one of the leading wine experts in Bordeaux?

Axel Marchal: I'm not a child of the ball, in fact, I ended up in Bordeaux because of my passion for wine.

There is a big meeting which is a turning point...

Yes, first of all, many meetings with eminent wine critics when I was studying in Paris... Then one that was particularly important, the one with Denis Dubourdieu (a great professor of oenology who died in 2016, editor's note). I was in Bordeaux, with no intention of staying there, and I visited Château Reynon. I spent a day with Denis. It changed the way I viewed the rest of my career. We tasted wine, we went to see soil pits, we talked about science. I didn't know oenology as such as a scientific discipline. I was able to see that there was an opportunity to bring together my passion for wine and my deep interest in science. I stayed for a doctoral thesis in oenology defended in 2010 on "the molecular bases of the sweet flavor of dry wines."

You have a reputation as one of the specialists: is there still a Bordeaux style?

This is the question all professionals must ask themselves. What is the taste of Bordeaux? It's difficult to describe the taste of a region that today has around 100,000 hectares of vines. My answer is that it has a certain number of timeless characteristics whose interpretation evolves over time. Bordeaux wines are wines that come from grapes grown at the northern limit of their ripening zone. So overall, without distinguishing an absolute geographical question, Bordeaux wines are wines that, in their taste, are northern wines. Consequently, they possess a quality that, in my opinion, is very important in the construction of a wine: freshness. And that's true in white wines. And it's always been particularly sought after in white wines because one of the primary reasons we drink white wine is because they have a thirst-quenching character. For red wines, there's the vegetal character. Bordeaux is the maturity of fresh fruit. Neither green nor cooked. There's also the smoothness that reveals itself over time. Bordeaux is a tannic structure without astringency. And that's where the ultimate path lies. The final element is the ability, not the obligation, to age admirably.

And from the point of view of the simple wine consumer?

It's at the center of everything. There's a general identity to Bordeaux wines, but a style that can change, linked to the evolution of consumer expectations. The great oenologist Émile Peynaud said that wine "is the son of the customer." Wine is not something absolute. Wine is a sensitive product; it's the taste of an era.

The Bordeaux vineyard is going through a terrible crisis... What is your view?

The situation is very difficult, with the unfair disenchantment with Bordeaux. I want to wish the winegrowers courage and tell them that I think there are many sources of hope. We probably haven't communicated enough about the people behind Bordeaux wines, about the embodiment, about the remarkable diversity of Bordeaux terroirs. Many winegrowers are remarkable in their commitment.

After more than 25 years in the world of wine, a question for the young enthusiast from the Vosges... What do you look for in wine?

Quite often, I don't look for anything. It's the wine that comes to us. I don't believe at all that knowledge is opposed to pleasure. It's simply that there are wines that I approach differently. In a private tasting, I would use the quote about the relationship between Montaigne and La Boétie: "because it was him, because it was me." That's the moment that arrives in a given context where we are open to receiving a wine. Its origin, the way it was made, the way it was preserved, how it evolved, how it is served to me... Well, this unique encounter where there is an immediate connection, it's the emotion that arrives without looking for it, it imposes itself naturally.

This interview was conducted in June as part of the podcast “The Four Seasons of Wine” where it can be found in its entirety.