The artist, portrait of Philippe Pacalet
huile sur toile, 100 x100 cm
I knew Philippe Pacalet by reputation… I remember a lunch with a wealthy winemaker from Languedoc who, when I announced my preference for “natural” wines, brought up from his cellar a magnum without a label from a batch vinified without additives. It was his wine but transformed in its suppleness, its flesh, and the freshness of its fruit. He had made this experiment by hiring Philippe Pacalet. In my series of portraits of winemakers, I needed this “artist” whose wines, from numerous plots owned by the Côtes de Nuits and Beaune that he manages and vinifies for himself, exalt the natural beauty of Burgundy’s terroirs. My friend Roberto Petronio, collaborator of the Revue des Vins de France, had me taste them, and he organized a meeting at Philippe’s in Beaune. In the kitchen of his apartment where his Brazilian wife offered us dinner, I took a few photos and Roberto, better equipped, took some more assured ones. Armed with these shots and the memory of the tasting in the cellar that initiated this delightful evening, I attempted this portrait of a man whom I probably don’t know well enough to capture all facets, but of whom I believe I caught a glimpse of his presence.
