2018 Pierre Girardin Beaune 1er Cru Les Epenottes, Burgundy

The 2018 Beaune 1er Cru Les Epenottes opens in the glass with notes of black cherries, licorice and smoked meats, followed by a medium to full-bodied, youthfully chewy palate that will round out with further élevage—even if it will always be a bit more structured than the charming 2017.

87-89 points William Kelley robertparker.com

Few emerging Côte de Beaune winemakers are making more of a stir than 21-year-old Pierre Vincent Girardin. This was my first visit to his well-appointed winery and cellar in Meursault, where evidently no expense has been spared on the latest presses, fermentation tanks and larger-format barrels from Tonnellerie François Frères—all housed in a glistening modern winery. Working with some 4.5 hectares of domaine vineyards that are supplemented by an extensive array of négociant purchases, Girardin has hit the ground running with an impressively wide portfolio that includes iconic appellations such as even Montrachet and Chambertin, and he has equally rapidly found eager international representation with top importers. Some cynics speculate that the "eminence grise" behind this rapid denouement is Pierre Vincent Girardin's father, Vincent, who retired early after the sale of his eponymous Maison to the Compagnie des Vins d'Autrefois, questioning how someone so young might establish themselves so fast and observing that many of this new enterprise's négociant cuvées derive from appellations formerly vinified by Maison Vincent Girardin. But Pierre Vincent assures me that wine runs in his veins: He began vinifying a little himself, he tells me, aged 15, with the results being sold to the négoce, and he has nurtured a passion for winemaking ever since. His father's advice and connections, he willingly concedes, have helped him realize the aesthetic he admires. But that aesthetic is very different from the rich, oaky style that characterized Vincent Girardin's wines of yesteryear. Pierre Vincent's whites are finer-boned and more reductive, and his are reds delicate and fruit-driven, with a minimum of extraction and plenty of stem retention for his Côte de Nuits appellations—ironically, an aesthetic just as fashionable today as his father's winemaking style was in the 1990s and early 2000s. Percentages of new oak, he adds, will decrease as time passes and he accumulates used barrels in-house. So, how are the wines? I tasted Pierre Vincent's 2017s from bottle and unfinished 2018s, and there's plenty with which to be impressed. His whites stand out, with his Puligny-Montrachet Folatières and cuvées of Corton-Charlemagne deserving special mention. Pierre Vincent's reds are also immensely charming and immediate, and they will make plenty of friends. But in some cases, their fruit-driven, infused style left me wanting more depth, dimension and potential for the long haul—but my sense is that the house style for reds is less fully formed. In summation, this is a promising debut from one of Burgundy's most talked-about new producers, and I look forward to following its evolution over the years to come.