A family of Vosne-Romanée

The domaine's own history says the Grivot family came from the Jura and has lived around Vosne-Romanée since the seventeenth century. It settled in the village itself in the middle of the nineteenth century, with Joseph Grivot. In 1919 his son Gaston sold vines in lesser sites to buy a plot of Clos de Vougeot, as the wine writer Clive Coates tells it. Gaston was among the first growers to study oenology at the University of Dijon, in the 1920s.

In 1927 Gaston married Madeleine, daughter of Émile Grivot, a grower in Nuits-Saint-Georges. According to Coates, she brought vines in Les Pruliers and Roncières as her dowry. Their son Jean married Yvonne Jayer and inherited vines from her and her sister in Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romanée, Les Rouges and Échezeaux. In 1984 the family bought a Richebourg parcel that had belonged to the Vienot estate, and divided it with Jean Mongeard. Coates writes that the whole crop has been sold in bottle since 1959.

Étienne, then Mathilde and Hubert

Étienne, son of Jean and Yvonne, joined the domaine in 1982 after studies at the wine school in Beaune, in California and with other growers. As early as 1978, while still a student, he had persuaded his father to replace mineral fertiliser with organic matter. Coates writes that he took charge step by step during the 1980s. In 1987 he married Marielle Bize, sister of Patrick Bize of Domaine Simon Bize in Savigny-lès-Beaune. In the late 1980s he worked with Guy Accad, an advocate of long cold soaks before fermentation. From 1993, Coates reports, Étienne kept the best of Accad, including his soil analysis, and gradually dropped the rest.

Their children Mathilde and Hubert came to the domaine in 2010. The domaine's history says they took over the family estate in 2022. Étienne compares the grower to a conductor: "I conduct the terroir, but we don't have the right to change the score."

Three grands crus

The domaine's Richebourg plot covers 0.32 hectare. This grand cru lies at mid-slope above Romanée-Saint-Vivant, and the Raignots path separates it from La Romanée and the Romanée-Conti. In the Clos de Vougeot the domaine has 1.87 hectares in one block. The Échezeaux plot covers 0.8 hectare in the climat Les Cruots, also called Vigne Blanche, two names that point to a stony, pale soil.

In the domaine's words, its Clos de Vougeot is powerful and vigorous when young, with violet and truffle once mature. The Échezeaux is fragrant and silky young and needs about ten years to open. The Richebourg is rich and full-bodied, and the domaine advises waiting at least twelve years.

Premiers crus in Vosne and Nuits

The domaine has six premiers crus in Vosne-Romanée. Les Beaux Monts, 0.93 hectare near the top of the slope, is one of its classics, full-bodied with red fruit and spice, and pleasant fairly young. Les Suchots lies in a dip below Aux Brûlées, between Romanée-Saint-Vivant and Échezeaux, and the domaine says it can age twenty years. Aux Brûlées spreads over three south-facing terraces and shows its velvety side after five to ten years. Les Rouges sits just above Échezeaux and gives a lively wine with a salty freshness. Two very small plots, Les Chaumes and Aux Reignots, complete the list.

Nuits-Saint-Georges adds three premiers crus. Aux Boudots lies on the Vosne side, next to Les Malconsorts, and the domaine says it joins the power of Nuits to the finesse of Vosne. Les Pruliers has more clay, which gives a richer wine with round tannins that often needs ten years. Roncières, between Les Porrêts and Les Pruliers, grows on poor soil, and the domaine finds white flowers, brambles and white pepper in it.

In the vineyard and cellar

The domaine says it farms on organic principles and protects its vines with natural methods. Vines are planted at 11,000 per hectare, and each vine that dies is replaced individually, so the old vines stay. The whole estate is ploughed. Coates noted that from 2006 a horse called Pirate ploughed the Richebourg and other plots in Vosne-Romanée. In 2025 the domaine's website put the area worked by horse at three hectares.

The grapes are picked by hand, sorted on a table and fully destemmed. The juice is kept cool for a few days, then ferments with native yeasts. The domaine pumps over once a day, punches down very little and speaks of infusion rather than extraction. The wines spend fifteen months in oak barrels, with a share of new oak set for each vintage. Each cuvée is blended in tank and bottled without fining or filtration. The domaine makes wine only from its own vines.

The range

The range starts with regional wines. The Bourgogne Pinot Noir comes from La Lutenière, close to Vosne and just east of the main road. The Bourgogne Chardonnay comes from La Fontaine de Vosne, replanted and first made in 1991. A Coteaux Bourguignons from very old Gamay has been bottled at the domaine since 2012. Village wines come from Vosne-Romanée, as a blend of eight parcels and as Bossières, from Nuits-Saint-Georges Aux Lavières and Les Charmois, and from Chambolle-Musigny La Combe d'Orveau. Above them come the nine premiers crus and the three grands crus. The wines above are the domaine's bottles in our cellar, part of our wider range of Burgundy wines.