feature / veraison / Domaine Pierre Vincent


five white and two red, and spread across 20 appellations. Many of the cuvées amount to no more than a handful of barrels, a circumstance in which Vincent revels, mentioning that for him his eight barrels of Puligny-Montrachet in a regular vintage constitutes a large cuvée. The winery is located beside the River Velle—hence the waterlogged approach track— meaning that the cellar is unusually humid, reducing the need to top up the barrels. Vincent’s winemaking is relatively simple. After being


picked into 26lb (12kg) boxes, the white grapes are sorted and go straight to the press without crushing, followed by a short settling in stainless-steel tank before transfer to barrel for fermentation. He is happy for plenty of solids to make it to barrel. “I like turbidity,” he says. “I am a partisan for a high level of lees.” Bâtonnage is employed between alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, and a year in barrel is followed by six months back in tank before bottling. Dogma plays little part in Vincent’s approach, but he is adamant that the period in tank is essential for pure, clean flavors and harmony on the palate. Earlier harvesting than under the previous regimen will also play a part in keeping the house style fresh; rich, opulent textures are to be avoided: “Meursault foie gras is not my style.” The white range is bookended by brilliance—from humble Aligoté, to patrician Corton-Charlemagne. The former comes


from two vineyards within Auxey-Duresses and displays a bracing citrus character, fresh and perky, with a saline, mineral snap on the finish. It is lean and precise, though not searing, with a dry bite that is almost tannic. Élevage is in a 60/40 combination of oak (10% new) and amphorae, and the wine is an exemplar for a style of white Burgundy that is gaining greater recognition and approval. The days of curling the lip and reaching for the cassis at the mention of Aligoté are gone. The Corton-Charlemagne is a stunning wine, a real rival to


the Montrachets farther south that garner the lion’s share of attention when the world’s-best-Chardonnay plaudits are being handed out. It is an understandable situation, for the broad sweep of vineyard that wraps around the Hill of Corton encompasses great variety, most especially aspect, which swings from due east in Ladoix-Serrigny to due west, and more, in Pernand-Vergelesses. Holdings are scattered, too, as with Pierre Vincent’s two plots that total half-a-hectare (1.2 acres). One, planted in 1966, lies on the southwestern slope in Aloxe-Corton; the other, “around the corner” in Pernand- Vergelesses, where in summer it can be 11am before the morning sun touches the vines, planted in 1949. As a result, Vincent harvests the Aloxe plot five days ahead of the northwest-facing thin strip of vineyard in Pernand. Each is vinified separately and only assembled into the final blend after


156 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 87 | 2025


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