Vincent Girardin Bourgogne Blanc Cuvee Saint Vincent 2023

Domaine Vincent Girardin started with two hectares of vineyards in 1980 and has grown into one of Burgundy's largest wine merchants. The winery now manages 14 hectares of its own vineyards and purchases grapes from an additional 70 hectares of vineyards across various Burgundy appellations, primarily producing white wines.

Vincent Girardin's family has been growing grapes in Santenay, Burgundy since the 17th century. In 1980, at the age of nineteen, Vincent inherited two hectares of vineyards from his family, thus beginning his wine business. In 2002, Eric Germain, a winemaker who champions natural methods, joined the winery, and the style of the wines began to change, emphasizing the expression of local terroir and naturalness, with a reduced use of new oak barrels. Eric stated, "Barrels are like salt; they are used to enhance the flavor of the wine, not to mask its terroir." In 2005, Eric became the chief winemaker.

Vincent Girardin now uses biodynamic methods, avoiding herbicides and pesticides, but employing organic copper and sulfur. They regularly deep-plow and use natural compost, and utilize high trellises for better photosynthesis and ventilation. Grape harvesting is done manually, with an initial selection process in the vineyard followed by further removal of substandard grapes in the workshop. The winemaking process differs for red and white wines. White wine is lightly pressed, clarified at low temperatures, and then fermented in oak barrels (using local yeasts) for 14 to 20 months, retaining fine lees in the oak and bottled without clarification. Red wine is partially destemmed and naturally fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, with pump-over and light cap pressing to extract more flavor. After filtration, it is transferred to oak barrels (10 to 30% new) for 16 to 18 months, using traditional gravity-driven shaking during the process, and bottled without clarification or filtration. Baijiu (Chinese white liquor) is characterized by its refined style and exceptional aromatic purity, offering a rich, smooth, and fresh experience; while red wine is primarily characterized by its graceful smoothness, delicate elegance.