Vincent Girardin - Santenay Vieilles Vignes 2018

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Santenay wine is produced in the communes of Santenay and Remigny in Côte de Beaune of Burgundy. The Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) Santenay may be used for red and white wine with respectively Pinot noir and Chardonnay as the main grape variety. The production consists of almost 85% red wine, and a little over 15% of white wine. There are no Grand Cru vineyards within the Santenay AOC.

In 2008, there were 329.31 hectares (813.7 acres) of vineyard surface in production for Santenay wine at village and Premier Cru level, and 14,040 hectoliters of wine was produced, of which 11,719 hectoliters were red and 2,321 hectoliters were white. Some 283.43 hectares (700.4 acres) of this area was used for the red wines in 2007. The total amount produced corresponds to almost 1.9 million bottles, of which over 1.5 million bottles were red wine and just over 300,000 bottles were white wine.

For white wines, the AOC regulations allow both Chardonnay and Pinot blanc to be used, but most wines are 100% Chardonnay. The AOC regulations also allow up to 15 per cent total of Chardonnay, Pinot blanc and Pinot gris as accessory grapes in the red wines, but this not very often practiced. The allowed base yield is 40 hectoliters per hectare of red wine and 45 hectoliters per hectare for white wine. The grapes must reach a maturity of at least 10.5 per cent potential alcohol for village-level red wine, 11.0 per cent for village-level white wine and Premier Cru red wine, and 11.5 per cent for Premier Cru white wine.

Vincent Girardin Description

The history of Maison Vincent Girardin is relatively recent. In 1980, at the age of 19, Vincent Girardin, the son of a family of winegrowers based in Santenay since the 17th century, decided to strike out on his own and began producing wine from five acres of vines that he had inherited from his parents. From his earliest youth, Vincent had a passion for working with vines and great respect for the potential that they represent, and his ambition was to produce his own wine. The quality of his wines was quickly recognized by connoisseurs all over the world, and this enabled him to expand his activity, focusing primarily on the great white and red wines of the Côte de Beaune. To cope with the growing demand for his wines, he developed an approach that was new in Burgundy: he purchased grapes from producers who shared the same philosophy and the same high standards. In 2012, Vincent Girardin sold his operation to a long-standing partner of the Maison. Jean-Pierre Nié, President of the Compagnie des Vins d’Autrefois in Beaune, naturally decided to continue with the small team of nine people that had been faithful to the Maison for many years. Today, Eric Germain continues to uphold the style of the wines, and Marco Caschera markets them all over the world.