Jean Grivot

Domaine Jean Grivot is a Vosne-Romanée estate of long lineage. The Grivot family began winemaking in the Jura in the mid-seventeenth century; Joseph Grivot sold the Jura vines and settled in Burgundy at the end of the eighteenth century. The line then runs Joseph → Gaston (who acquired the Clos de Vougeot parcel in 1919) → Jean (took over after his father's death in 1955) → Étienne and Marielle (in charge from 1987) → daughter Mathilde (lead winemaker since 2017) and son Hubert, both sixth generation.

Around 15.5 hectares across 22 appellations, in Vosne-Romanée, Vougeot, Chambolle-Musigny, and Nuits-Saint-Georges. Manual harvest, organic conversion in the vineyards, horse-plowing on the Grand Crus, average vine age around sixty years. Grand Cru holdings: Richebourg (Jean acquired the parcel in 1984), Échezeaux in the Les Cruots lieu-dit (Grivot is the largest landowner there), and Clos de Vougeot. Premier Cru holdings in Vosne (Les Beaux Monts, Les Suchots, Aux Brûlées, Aux Reignots, Les Chaumes, Les Rouges) and Nuits-Saint-Georges (Aux Boudots, Les Pruliers, Roncières), plus village-tier Vosne (including Bossières as a separate bottling), NSG, Bourgogne Pinot Noir, and a small Bourgogne Chardonnay.

The cellar template: full destemming, cold pre-fermentation maceration at 12-15°C for four to six days, indigenous-yeast fermentation, pigeage only pre-fermentation - none once alcoholic fermentation has started ("don't mix the physical with the spiritual," as Étienne puts it). Élevage in oak for around eighteen months. New oak is scaled by tier. The Étienne-era ratios ran roughly 25% village, 60% Premier Cru, 70% Grand Cru; under Mathilde (from 2017) the proportions have come down to roughly 25-30% village, 35-40% Premier Cru, and a maximum of around 50% Grand Cru.