Domaine Franck Givaudin (Irancy)

16.9.2014billn

DSC04480Tasted in Irancy with Franck Givaudin, 11 June, 2014.

Domaine Franck Givaudin
Sentier de la Bergère
89290 Irancy
Tel. +33 3 86 42 20 67
www.irancy.org

Franck was working in Beaune for a few years, before returning to the 12 hectare family domaine in Irancy. His father’s family are from Saint Brice and his mother’s from Irancy – a little under 10 hectares are in Irancy, the rest in St.Brice. The domaine exports a little wine to the US, but like most others in the village, the bulk of the production finds a home in the Paris region. Normally 5-10% of production is rosé, but there was none in 2012 – Franck notes, with a smile, “The grapes were too good!”

The domaine’s parcel of Palotte was recovered by Franck’s grandfather in 1960-62 and has old vines, planted mainly in the 1920s. Franck says that he likes to respect the old cesar here, but his other parcels have none.

The approach is to have the ‘highest value’ approach to the vineyard environment. Since 2002 there have been no herbicides or insecticides etcetera in the domaine’s vines. Franck calls his approach “Raisonée-durable…”

Grapes are hand-harvested and 100% destemmed. Their cuvaison lasts about 18 days – depending on the grapes – and sees both a little remontage and pigeage. There is a mix of traditional open-top fermenters and temperature-controlled stainless-steel with built-in (once per day) pigeage. Franck says that he’s really looking for the fruitiness of pinot noir in his wines and gives the fermented grapes a 2-2.5 hour gentle pneumatic press. “I also like wines with a little structure, but with good presentation – wines that need 3-4 years to mature,” says Franck. There are a few barrels for ‘interesting’ cuvées, Franck noting that he prefers to work with 2-3 year-old barrels.

The wines…

For some of the 2013s, despite the same labelling, there are separate cuvées – or in other cases will be blended!.

2013 Irancy
The malo is finished here – a wine of 100% pinot noir – the domaine’s last parcel harvested in this vintage. This will be bottled after the 2014 harvest.
Fresh, dark, crunchy fruit. There’s lovely width and good concentration too. Looks very promising…

2013 Irancy
This will be a later bottling and is a combination of 3 lieu-dits. The label will be the same as the last, but it wont be sold until the previous cuvée is exhausted at the domaine. What you have on the shelf in 2 years could be either…
This takes a little time in the glass to round-out, but it does. More structured but I find very good energy and not a little licorice flavour.

2013 Irancy Bergères
This cuvée will probably(!) be blended into the first Irancy.
This has a deep, dark and pretty Irancy nose. But too much CO2 to say more – it emphasises the astringency too…

2013 Irancy Palotte
There’s 10% cesar in here.
There’s a depth, indeed weight, of dark fruit on the nose. This is direct and has plenty of tannin but not so much astringency as the last wine. It seems more transparent and has a fine finishing, if modest, fruit. A little late-arriving licorice here too.

2013 Irancy xxx
I don’t know how this will be named. It’s a return to 100% pinot noir and is a blend of some of Franck’s favourite cuvées in barrel.
A solid core of dark fruit on the nose. There’s a little CO2 yet this is still rounder with a nice intensity. A round, relaxed finish with a modest astringency. Very nice!

2012 Irancy Palotte
10% cesar.
This has a dark, quite massive nose. Big, round and with plenty of tannin yet nothing harsh. There’s a real density of flavour here and some of it licorice. The density holds in the finish too – impressive stuff!
2010 Irancy
Here is a higher-toned nose that shows a certain freshness of redder fruit. There’s sweetness and a supple palate despite some structure. Yum!

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