The Girardin family has been in Burgundy since 1570, with Justin Girardin being the 13th generation. After studying in Beaune and Bordeaux, and an internship in Tasmania, Justin returned to the Domaine in 2013. He works alongside his parents, Valerie and Jacques, who had bought the estate from his uncle Vincent Girardin.
Justin is at the head of a 17-hectare estate that stretches from Santenay to Savigny les Beaune via Chassagne Montrachet and Pommard. With an ancestral know-how and an inexhaustible energy, he shows determination and audacity every day. His experiences outside Burgundy bring modernity and creativity to the elaboration of his wines.
Always supported by his parents, Justin develops the family business. His vision is simple: to always question himself in order to seek the best possible quality and allow each wine to be the purest expression of its terroir. Each parcel will produce a different wine with rigour, attention to detail and intelligence.
With the talent seemingly ingrained in this lineage, Justin is more than a name to watch. He is said to be without doubt one of the most exciting young names to emerge in Santenay in recent years, and his wines offer surprisingly good value. He inherited his 17-hectare estate from his father, Jacques, and over the past few years has transformed the wines of this estate. He has quietly worked in the vineyards and cellar to transform what was rustic old-fashioned Santenay into fresh, vibrant and exciting red and white Burgundy from some of the best terroirs of the Côte de Beaune. His holdings also cover Savigny-les-Beaune, Maranges and Pommard and his commitment to letting the terroir shine through in his wines is evident. He grows only Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. This is a growing estate and Justin Girardin is a name to watch.
Only native yeast is used, and it is rare to feel the influence of new oak in any of Justin’s bottlings. The family believes in clonal diversity both as a means of preserving the culture and as a means of increasing the complexity of the finished wines. A dizzying number of clonal selections can be found in each of their vineyards. These are precision Burgundies, but they are also priceless wines.
Vigilant about the well-being of his vines, he intervenes only when necessary for the maintenance of the vineyard in the logic of a healthy agriculture and always more respectful of its environment. The man does not only work a wine, but an alchemy between the earth, the sky, and the plant. He does not seek to dominate the process but to accompany it as best he can.