Pierre Vincent Girardin

Sometimes it really feels like the vinous stars align for some people. They just get it. They get their land, and they get wine and they get what they need to do to make it great.

Pierre Vincent Girardin is one of these people, and at the tender age of just 29 this year with 8 vintages under his belt already and 12 generations preceding him, it’s safe to say his already impressive trajectory is going to be both a sight and a taste to behold.

If you’re familiar with Burgundy wines you might recognize the name Vincent Girardin. Vincent is Pierre Vincent’s father and much like his son whose wines are making waves now, he started his winemaking career early. In 1980 at just 19 years old, this twelfth generation Santenay winemaker started making wine from just two hectares of vines that he had inherited from his parents.

His quality and inherent knack for it meant his reputation grew quickly – faster, in fact than his production allowed him and he began to expand his reach into the Côte de Beaune. It was quite a unique move for the time, purchasing grapes from other producers, but he was scrupulous when it came to vetting the growers to ensure their philosophies and standards aligned with his own.

This new blood and drive for innovation in a rather traditional place meant magic could happen. Vincent’s passion and curiosity led him to try all of the techniques that were being employed at that time and this in turn led him in the early 2000s to employing Eric Germain as a winemaker, with whom he honed in on a style and ‘essence.’

In 2012, Vincent Girardin sold his operation to a long-standing partner of the Maison. Mr. Nié, President of the Compagnie des Vins d’Autrefois in Beaune, naturally decided to continue with the small team of 9 people, who had been faithful to the Maison for many years.

But while Eric Germain holds the mantle still for the operations under Mr. Nié’s holding, Burgundy is at it’s heart, a true family endeavour. Vincent had seen his son, Pierre Vincent, developing the same knack and interest that he had in his youth and recognized the potential there. With a nostalgic nod to his beginnings, Vincent set aside a few select parcels when making the sale with the aim of nurturing this legacy.

Les Folatières in Puligny-Montrachet, the parcel from which Pierre learnt all his viticulture knowledge sits particularly close to his heart. These 4.5 hectares of vines became the vehicle driving Pierre-Vincent’s success and ability to launch his first vintage in 2017 at just 21 years old – only just old enough in some countries to legally purchase the product he made.

Coming from a winemaking lineage as revered as the Girardin’s comes with perks too. While the Les Folatières is a bit special to him, he can open a lot of doors to establish good grower relationships with other vineyards including Pommard “Rugiens”, Pommard “Grand Epenots”, Vosne-Romanée “Les Suchots”, Corton-Charlemagne, as well as Grand Cru Montrachet.

The Fine Wine Experience expertly explains that “building a new winery from scratch meant key decisions for equipment. Pierre’s policy is to vinify his whites in oak barrels containing 456 litres – double the size of a classic Burgundy barrel. This means smaller surfaces for exchange between wine and wood, with less penetration of air, to ensure maximum aromatic freshness. It also brings about less evaporation, and has allowed him to reduce sulphur dioxide use. 95% of his barrels are in this size, and he does not believe in lees-rousing. The whites spend a year in barrel, then are assembled in tank. His Meursault ‘Les Narvaux’ grapes came from a white-marl, limestone-rich soil giving complex wines with fruit density and freshness. Meursault 1er Cru ‘Charmes’ came from mid-slope and the heart of the 1er Cru, which bring roundness and flesh. Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru grapes originated in an 85 year old vineyard on the Chassagne-Montrachet side, with Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru being an assemblage of grapes from both Pernand-Vergelesses and Ladoix. For the 2019 vintage he has used one third new barrels for village and 1er Cru whites, and 50% for the grands crus.

For the reds, Pierre bought many small stainless steel vats with floating tops, and believes in careful temperature control during fermentation, at lowest possible levels, with little or no intervention. 100% whole bunches were retained in 2019 for Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru. After 12 months in barrel, typically using 35-50% new barrels for 1st Growths, racking and assembling took place, with Côte de Beaune reds being bottled in December, then the Côte de Nuits in February. Just 3 barrels were made of the Clos-Vougeot Grand Cru, from a parcel lying in mid-Clos, between the two Châteaux. Echézeaux Grand Cru gave a better yield (5 barrels), the grapes coming from Les Treux, the vines lying close to Grands-Echézeaux.

Pierre-Vincent is very concerned about oxidation, and one of the practices that he does to protect against oxidation is pressing his grapes very hard. This style of pressing the grapes usually takes about three hours. From this pressing you also get dry extract from the grapes which gives more texture to the wine.

Other practices Pierre-Vincent does to help protect his wine against oxidation include keeping a very cold cellar and purchasing corks from Sardinia that he has found are three times the density of the corks found in Spain and Portugal. He explained these corks provide much greater protection from allowing oxygen into the wine. He also coats each cap in wax to help provide an added layer of protection. For ageing his whites Pierre uses specially designed 456-litre barrels because he feels that keeps freshness in the wines and limits the oak influence. Pierre uses minimal sulphur in the winemaking process.

This young man brings the techniques he learned from his father and his own vision to his wines.”

For some years now Maison Vincent Girardin has upheld its “Très Haute Couture” code of winegrowing practices. 

Vincent and Eric started to experiment with biodynamic methods between 2007 and 2010 which is now Pierre’s vinification of choice. They also give preference to the purchase of grapes from vineyards managed according to the following principles:

• No herbicides or insecticides
• Deep ploughing
• Use of natural composts from farms in the Burgundy region
• High trellising for better photosynthesis
• Manual harvests with sorting in the vineyard and in the vat room

Whether it is the Grands Vins of Meursault or the Grands Crus of Puligny-Montrachet, or any of the Grands Vins produced by Maison Vincent Girardin, they are all made with a commitment to the same principles, i.e. the most natural vinification possible.