Pierre-Vincent Girardin made his first wines in Meursault in 2017, while still in his early twenties, with an inheritance most young Burgundians can only imagine. His father, Vincent Girardin, built one of the better-known houses of the Côte de Beaune before selling it, and when he did he quietly held back 4.5 hectares of his best vineyard for his son. Pierre, who grew up in his father's cellar and is the thirteenth generation of a Burgundian winegrowing family, took those vines and began.
The domaine remains small. Its own parcels sit in Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, Pommard and on the hill of Corton, farmed organically, with compost from the family farm and work timed to the lunar calendar. Beyond his own vines Girardin buys fruit under long-term contracts from growers with mature vines farmed along the same lines, an arrangement built on his father's relationships that has given him access to a handful of grand cru sites, Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet and Corton-Charlemagne among them, that his own holdings could never supply.
In the cellar the approach is particular rather than fashionable. Whole bunches of Chardonnay are pressed long and firmly to draw out fine lees, and the juice goes to custom 456-litre barrels commissioned from François Frères, a format Girardin chose because the larger vessel keeps oak in the background while the wine completes both its alcoholic and malolactic fermentations. The wines are protected with nitrogen from press to bottle, little sulphur is used along the way, and bottling is done without fining or filtration.
Pinot Noir is handled with the same restraint. The reds are raised in traditional 225-litre barrels, extraction is gentle, punch-downs are all but avoided, and the intent is silk rather than weight. Whether the fruit comes from Pommard Les Grands Épenots or from purchased parcels in the grands crus of the Côte de Nuits, the aim is transparency of site, with structure carried by freshness rather than by tannin.
The result is a range of white and red Burgundy that reads as a young producer's argument for precision: village Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet that show the mineral cut of their soils, premiers crus from Chassagne-Montrachet and Meursault Les Perrières with real depth, and grands crus that are made in tiny quantities and are rarely seen outside a few allocations.
i.WINE currently carries the following wines from Pierre Girardin: Montrachet Grand Cru 2022, Bienvenues-Bâtard Montrachet Grand Cru 2022, Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2022, Chambertin Grand Cru 2022, Romanée-St Vivant Grand Cru 2022, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru "Les Suchots" 2022, Pommard 1er Cru "Les Grands Épenots" 2022, Meursault 1er Cru "Les Perrières" 2022, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Pucelles" 2023, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Romanée" 2023, Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Vigne Blanches" 2023, Meursault "Les Grands Charrons" 2023, Chassagne-Montrachet "Les Chênes" 2023, Puligny-Montrachet 2023 and Vosne-Romanée 2023.
