2021 Montrachet Grand Cru

Domaine Vincent Girardin has improved dramatically under Eric Germain in recent years, something many consumers are unaware of. However, the quality has been impacted hard, and Germain is refreshingly honest about the potential of his 2021s whites and reds.

“Around 50% of the volume vanished due to frost. We used candles in the Premier Crus that were quite effective, for example, in Les Combettes, where we lost just one barrel. Much more got damaged where we did not have candles. We had two weeks of harvest that started on 18 September, commencing with whites, then the reds, and the later-ripening whites. We just lost two cuvées in Chassagne: Caillerets and La Romanée. Some of the whites have been fined and are in stainless steel, while the rest are on the lees in barrel, and they will be transferred into stainless steel next month. We did not make any adjustments, chaptalisation or acidification; the wines have between 12.6% and 13.2% alcohol. The vintage is good but not great, depending on the frost damage. Where you have the frost, you have different ripeness levels within the bunches. I like the phenolic flavours in some of the wines.”