Vincent Giraudon: Vineyards
Today Vincent continues with 4 hectares of vines, just the right area for one man to manage single-handed (or so many vignerons, all of whom owned about 4 hectares of vines, have told me over the years). Much of this, at least 3 hectares in fact, is planted to Gamay, specifically Gamay-St-Romain, a particular strain associated with the Côte Roannaise appellation. The remaining vines are all Aligoté, a variety Vincent found himself drawn to during his time working in Burgundy. The former vines range from 20 to 50 years of age, being long-associated with the appellation, but the Aligoté was planted by Vincent within a few years of returning to the region, and they are marketed as Vin de France or Vin de Pays d’Urfé. The vines are typically planted at 5,000 pieds per hectare.
The terroir is naturally granitic, and the work in the vine is manual, the responsibility falling largely to Vincent. As already mentioned in my introduction, in 2015 he converted the entire domaine to organic viticulture, and it remains so today.
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