Domaine Pierre Girardin Richebourg Grand Cru

Pierre-Vincent Girardin launched his domaine in 2016 at approximately 19 years old — the 13th generation of a Burgundian winemaking family — and within his first handful of vintages secured access to Richebourg, one of the Côte de Nuits' most coveted 8-hectare Grand Cru sites. That access, earned through long-term contracts with like-minded organic growers rather than inherited ownership, is itself the transgression: a domaine barely a decade old placing fruit from Vosne-Romanée's iron-rich, Premeaux limestone and clay-marl soils alongside the great négociant houses. Richebourg's mid-slope parcels sit at roughly 260–280 m elevation with east-facing aspect, producing Pinot Noir of concentrated dark-fruit depth tempered by the site's characteristic iron-laced minerality and cool morning air. Vinification follows Girardin's low-extraction philosophy: whole-cluster inclusion, minimal pigeage, and cold-cellar fermentation with indigenous yeasts. Aging extends to 15 months in 228-litre barrels at deliberately low new-oak percentages, preserving site transparency over wood influence, followed by 3 months in tank before bottling unfined and unfiltered, timed to the lunar calendar. In a Grand Cru tier where extraction and new oak remain common currency, Girardin's refusal of both is the defining departure. The 2020 vintage delivered concentrated, sun-ripened Pinot Noir across the Côte de Nuits with unusually supple tannin structure — drinking well from mid-decade with a long plateau ahead.