Domaine Pierre Girardin Puligny-Montrachet

Pierre-Vincent Girardin launched his domaine in 2016 at roughly 19 years old — the 13th generation of a Burgundian family — and immediately broke from the richer, more oak-driven Meursault tradition by deploying custom 456-litre barrels (double the Burgundy-standard 228-litre pièce) to halve wood-to-wine contact on his whites. Puligny-Montrachet sits on the Côte de Beaune mid-slope at approximately 260 m elevation, its east-to-south-facing parcels rooted in Jurassic marly limestone — a calcium-dense, well-drained substrate that drives the appellation's signature tension and chalky salinity rather than textural weight. Fruit is hand-harvested, carefully sorted, and fermented with indigenous yeasts in those oversized François Frères/Seguin-Moreau barrels; no bâtonnage is performed and sulphur additions are kept minimal, preserving the juice's crystalline freshness. After 12 months in barrel (30% new oak), the wine rests a further 6 months in stainless steel before bottling unfined and unfiltered, timed to the lunar calendar. The complete absence of lees-stirring is the defining departure here — where most Puligny producers use bâtonnage to build mid-palate weight, Girardin sacrifices texture for site-specific precision. The 2022 Burgundy vintage delivered generous ripeness with retained acidity, giving this cuvée both presence and the electric, saline drive that defines the domaine's house style.