Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

Pierre-Vincent Girardin launched his domaine in 2016 at roughly 19 years old — the 13th generation of a Burgundian winemaking family — and immediately broke with the richer, oak-driven Meursault tradition by commissioning custom 456-litre barrels (François Frères / Seguin-Moreau), double the volume of the region's standard 228-litre pièce, to halve wood-to-wine contact on his whites.

Corton-Charlemagne sits at the hill's upper slope on the communes of Aloxe-Corton and Pernand-Vergelesses, where thin, iron-rich limestone and marl soils over hard Jurassic bedrock — combined with a southwest-facing aspect — generate the appellation's signature tension between stony austerity and latent power.

Girardin ferments with indigenous yeasts only, maintains a cold cellar throughout, and applies zero bâtonnage, preserving the site's mineral salinity rather than building textural weight. Aging runs 12 months in the 456-litre barrels at 30% new oak, followed by 6 months in stainless-steel tank before bottling unfined and unfiltered on the lunar calendar.

The special feature: no peer in Meursault or Corton routinely combines oversized-barrel fermentation, no lees-stirring, and lunar-timed bottling at this grand cru level — the result is a Corton-Charlemagne built on electric acidity and saline precision rather than the toasty generosity the hill can easily produce.

The 2022 vintage in Burgundy delivered excellent natural balance after a dry, warm summer with well-timed September rains; expect this wine to reward 5–12 years of cellaring.