Tasted with Vincent in Vosne-Romanée 08 December 2023.
Domaine Vincent Paindavoine
Rue des Grands Crus
21700 Vosne-Romanée
Tel: +33 3 80 61 12 43
Vincent’s Instagram
www.vincentpaindavoine.com
I’m indebted to Christophe Deola of Louis Latour fame, who gave me the nod on this new producer in Vosne-Romanée.
A new producer in Vosne? Is that possible? Well, if your roots go deep enough, yes it is!
Vincent Paindavoine is the local man in the vines for the Hospices de Beaune – one of 22 who work full-time for the Hospices – but he is the only one of the team working vines in the Côte de Nuits; Clos de la Roche, Echézeaux and Mazis-Chambertin – not a bad roll-call! Vincent is just over 40 and says that he learned much of his organic and biodynamic knowledge from working with Bruno Clavelier. Vincent’s Instagram intruigingly describes him thus:
Winemaker in Vosne-Romanée, France.
Free jazzman in own wine estate & violinist @domaine_hospicesdebeaune.
Organic, always. First vintage : 2022
Vincent’s family have been in Vosne since the 1950s, and actually worked for Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. They managed to buy a third of their vines in late 1960 – “Vines were not so expensive then, you could almost say ‘accessible’ as it was close to the oil crisis. They started with 1.5 ha, then a bit more in the 1980s – but always small parcels. In the 1980s it was certainly a secondary occupation – working at DRC in the daytime and then working their own vines at the end of the day – Aubert used to let them use the domaine’s tractor in the evening!” They don’t use the tractors of DRC anymore but they did buy one of their old ones!
Since those times Vincent has managed to buy some aligoté and a small parcel in Gevrey too. The first vintage where Vincent has the bulk of the vines is 2022. There is also a little villages Vosne-Romanée and some Vosne 1er Beaux-Monts which are still being produced by Vincent’s uncle – Jean-Louis – but will come to him when Jean-Louis retires in 2024.
Vincent’s uncle, Jean-Louis Raillard, took over the family estate in 1989 and is the current mayor of Vosne-Romanée. Jean-Louis was regisseur at Domaine Claudine Deschamps before it was renamed Vougeraie. “There are lots of small families with tiny parcels – but my uncle decided not to rent out his vines to a larger domaine – despite his working hours as a teacher at Beaune’s Lycée Viticole.”
Not many bottles have been commercialised here but they have been exporting a little to Japan since the start of the 2000s.
Vincent has 8 different appellations from his 1.5 hectares! His Vosne-Romanée is the largest cuvée – still only 2,000 bottles – but the smallest brings just 300 bottles. “We stay completely artisanal – vinification integral – we’ve been doing that for quite some time, but there’s no recipe – sometimes whole cluster, sometimes not – its usually by intuition, and a pigeage is just that!”
The wines…
A new name is always interesting. One with such a high standard of viticultural approach is even more interesting. I hope to keep abreast of what Vincent produces over the unfolding years…
2022 Côteaux Bourguignons
From Les Pacquiers, bottled one month. All pinot, vines from 1968 and the other third are just 10 years old.
A width of red fruit aroma, slowly deeper too – very inviting. Hmm, perfumed, delicious fruit. Bright, vibrant, clean finishing, very subtly creamy at the end. Delicious.
2022 Nuits St.Georges Les Fleurières
Made from grapes of 70-year-old vines near Pruliers
A higher toned, more floral width of aroma. Wide over the palate, you sense the structure but here is finesse and a cool width of flavour. A bit more intensity in the finish too – lovely wine.
2022 Bourgogne Aligoté
Made just the same as with chardonnay – fermented in barrel. ‘I decided to harvest early in 2022’
Vibrant ripe fruit aromas, faintly oaked. Good attack, sensual, generous – beautifully tasty despite this oaked make up!
2022 Bourgogne Chardonnay
From the lieu-dit of La Chassagne
Narrow but aromatic – less obvious barrel in this case. Direct, very nice structure, beautiful texture and a vibrancy to the flavour in the finish – for a Côte de Nuits white this is particularly good!