Justin Girardin Santenay Vieilles Vignes

The Girardin family has been in Burgundy since 1570. Vincent and Jacque's father Jean Girardin divided up his estate in 1982 to each of his four children. Three of the four: Yves, Vincent and Jacques continued the family tradition of farming and winemaking. Jacques took hold of just 3 hectares of vines in Santenay and Savigny-les-Beaune and today the holdings stretch into Pommard and Chassagne-Montrachet totalling 17 hectares that are organically farmed, though not certified. Jacques handed over the domaine to Justin in 2012, leaving the family holdings in great hands.

Justin's philosophy is simple – let nature express itself as much as possible in the vineyard and ultimately the wine, while watching over and respecting the land. So the wine becomes a living product, the fruit of exceptional land and of an age-old expertise, which is renewed and modernized with each generation.

There is a prettiness to the somewhat savage nose marked with black pepper and an earthy aroma. The palate is full of pungent cranberry and blackcurrant nose with laurel and cinnamon. The wine is medium weight with markedly ripe tannins on a moderately long and persistent finish.