Jean Grivot

History

Jean Grivot is one of the most respected names in Vosne-Romanée, a village where the bar for that distinction is exceptionally high. The domaine has been family-owned for several generations, with the Grivot family farming the Côte de Nuits for much of the twentieth century. Étienne Grivot, who took over from his father Jean in the 1980s, is the figure most associated with the domaine's modern reputation. His tenure began with some controversy: in the late 1980s, the domaine worked briefly with the American consultant Guy Accad, whose radical winemaking prescriptions, including extended cold maceration and heavy sulfur use at harvest, produced wines that divided critics and aged unpredictably. Étienne moved away from that approach in the early 1990s and the domaine has since found its footing as one of the Côte de Nuits' most reliable addresses. The wines today are widely regarded as expressions of site rather than cellar intervention, though they are not minimalist in construction. Étienne's daughter Mathilde has taken an increasingly active role in the domaine in recent years, representing the next generation of family stewardship.

Vineyards

The domaine's holdings are concentrated in Vosne-Romanée and its immediate neighbors, with parcels spanning village level through to grand cru. The premier cru portfolio is unusually strong: Aux Brûlées, Les Beaux Monts, Les Suchots, Aux Reignots, and Les Rouges cover much of the appellation's most prized hillside terrain. Above these sit the grand cru holdings in Échézeaux, Clos de Vougeot, and Richebourg, the last of which is among the most coveted addresses in all of Burgundy. The vineyards sit on the characteristic limestone-clay soils of the Côte de Nuits, with elevation, aspect, and the precise depth and composition of those soils varying meaningfully between sites. Farming practices at Grivot lean toward the careful and attentive end of conventional viticulture; the domaine has not pursued certified organic or biodynamic status, though sustainable practices in the vineyard are emphasized. Vine age across the holdings varies, with some parcels containing old vines that contribute to the concentration the wines are known for.

Winemaking

Etienne Grivot's approach in the cellar is deliberate and unhurried. Grapes are destemmed in whole or in part depending on the vintage and the site, with the proportion of whole clusters used varying year to year rather than fixed by formula. Fermentation relies on native yeasts. The wines are aged in oak barrels, with the proportion of new oak calibrated to the level of the wine: grand crus see more new wood, village wines considerably less. The élevage is typically around eighteen months. Filtration has historically been minimal or avoided entirely at the top levels. The Richebourg is the domaine's flagship, and it shows the house style at full stretch: structured, mineral, and slow to open but deeply rewarding with time. The premiers crus, particularly Aux Brûlées and Les Beaux Monts, consistently rank among the better examples of those sites from any producer in the village.