Vincent Girardin

Vincent Girardin is a thoroughly modern Burgundian in just about every aspect of his life apart from his wines, which are purely terroir driven. The domaine's ambition is obvious as soon as you pull up at the cellars. Unlike most domaines in this part of France, the cellars aren't tucked away under a crumbling house but are in a purpose built facility on an industrial estate to the south of Meursault village. It might not be romantic but it is very impressive. Vincent is not a man who does things by halves.

Starting out in 1982 with just 2ha in Santenay, the village where he was born, Vincent now makes wines from vineyards the length and breadth of the Cote de Beaune and beyond - including the En Truffiere label which is exclusive to Bibendum. Although many of the vineyards he uses are rented rather than owned, Vincent hates the word ‘negociant', rightly distancing himself from the practice of buying in grapes.

Vincent's team tend to all the vines they use personally allowing them complete control of the growing process. Nothing, save the weather, is left to chance. A firm believer in sustainable viticulture, Vincent uses neither herbicides nor insecticides. The soil is worked to ensure proper aeration and he rigorously controls the yields by pruning, by adding only natural, slow release fertilizer, by severe removal of excess buds, and by green-harvesting.

Once in the cellar, the grapes are sorted carefully and thoroughly to remove any under-ripe berries before vinification. Both whites and reds are given a cold soak to extract the fruit flavours. The whites are all barrel fermented - about 40% of the barrels are new and the reds are aged in a similiar percentage of new casks having been fermented in tank. The whites are lightly clarified before bottling but the reds are left unfined and unfiltered.