NEWS: Girardin selling off his wine business

[Jenise]

From Marvin Shanken's internet rag:

Reliable sources have told Wine Spectator’s Bruce Sanderson that Vincent Girardin, a prominent Burgundy grower and winemaker, has a deal in the works to sell his wine business. Featuring approximately 133 acres of vines and a small—but increasingly important—négoçiant business, Girardin’s holdings are expected to sell for between $52 million to $65 million and could prove to be one of Burgundy’s most significant sales in recent history. The prospective buyer wasn’t identified. Domaine de La Tour du Bief in Moulin-à-Vent, which was acquired by Girardin in 2010, is thought not to be included in the deal.

Girardin founded his business roughly 25 years ago, and has personally accrued more than 50 acres in the Côte de Beaune region and around 25 acres in Santenay. Under his holding company, he has another 57 acres of vineyards in Chassagne-Montrachet premier crus Morgeot and Les Caillerets, Puligny-Montrachet La Garenne, Les Pucelles and Les Referts and grand cru Corton-Charlemagne.
In recent years, Girardin’s vineyards have undergone major improvements, including a conversion to biodynamic cultivation and a transition toward cleaner, more minerally white wines. Notable recent vintages include the 2007 grand cru whites from Corton-Charlemagne and the Montrachet sites, as well as the 2006 reds from the winery’s Chambertin sites.

Smart. Get out of Burgundy before the worst of global warming sets in. 65,000,000€ buys a lot of Spätburgunder vineyards in Germany.

Girardin's wines are reasonable in price for Burgundy if you compare them to much of his competition. I've liked many of them myself.

[David M. Bueker]

Smart. Get out of Burgundy before the worst of global warming sets in. 65,000,000€ buys a lot of Spätburgunder vineyards in Germany.

But it does not buy customers.

Smart. Get out of Burgundy before the worst of global warming sets in. 65,000,000€ buys a lot of Spätburgunder vineyards in Germany.

But it does not buy customers.

Well, there isn't a Pinot Noir glut in Germany, despite it being essentially tied with Müller-Thurgau as the 2nd most widely planted grape vine. And who knows? As far as export markets (like the US) are concerned, there may indeed be a future. Who had heard of Oregon Pinot Noir twenty years ago?

Cheers,
Bill

[David M. Bueker]

The problem with spatburgunder is the pricing. There is almost no way for US customers to be introduced to the wine for less than $50, unless they want generic, oaky junk.

The problem with spatburgunder is the pricing. There is almost no way for US customers to be introduced to the wine for less than $50, unless they want generic, oaky junk.

You're correct David, you cannot expect to introduce a wine at a very high price. People will buy something they are sure of at an expensive figure. It's human nature. Check where CDP has gone in the last 20 years, bit by bit.

The problem with spatburgunder is the pricing. There is almost no way for US customers to be introduced to the wine for less than $50, unless they want generic, oaky junk.

You're correct David, you cannot expect to introduce a wine at a very high price. People will buy something they are sure of at an expensive figure. It's human nature. Check where CDP has gone in the last 20 years, bit by bit.

Maybe.

But the notion that all German spatburgunder under $50 is generic oaky junk doesn't sound very accurate. From my experience, the vast majority of German spatburgunder is inexpensive (i.e. under 10euros, or 20euros maximum for the single vineyard reserve) and the best examples are basic uncomplicated delightful quaffing joys. Which raises another problem, we may already have enough of those wines on our shelf in the $15-25 range, especially with similar profiles to German spatburgunder. So it's still a tough sell. But for different reasons.

I know there is also the high-end spatburgunder market that might try to make inroads into the elite winegeek market. Which is a tough sell for the reasons David mentions. But as always, that's just a tiny bit of what German spatburgunder has to offer, even to the discerning winegeek.

unless they want generic, oaky junk.

David, I believe you've just identified a what a significant portion of the wine buying public wants there. I won't name any names, but it seems to me that could be shorthand for a predominant style pushed by some renowned wine writers.

[David M. Bueker]

unless they want generic, oaky junk.

David, I believe you've just identified a what a significant portion of the wine buying public wants there. I won't name any names, but it seems to me that could be shorthand for a predominant style pushed by some renowned wine writers.

Home,

Nice try with one of your old warhorse arguments, but it won't wash for two reasons:

1. There is too much acidity in most German pinot for it to find favor with Parker (use his name-it's obvious who you mean)

2. David Schildknecht reviews Germany, and has not converted to ruthe generic palate that people claim for The Wine Advocate.

The problem with spatburgunder is the pricing. There is almost no way for US customers to be introduced to the wine for less than $50, unless they want generic, oaky junk.

As Rahsaan said, that just isn’t accurate. I did some checking on wine-searcher and found many good German Spätburgunder wines very competitively priced in the range of 12-30€ for sale in the US (it wouldn’t let me change the currency to USD for some reason.) To name just a few: producers like Becker, Kesseler, König, Heger, Huber, Salwey, Knipser, Meßmer, Rebholz, Christmann among others all make very good, honest Pinot Noir without new oak for the lower-end wines. I think that everyone but Knipser and Rebholz had a wine for under 20€ -name me ten Oregon producers who can say the same.

It is unlikely that these wines can be easily pulled off of a shelf at your corner liquor store, but the fact that they are available for on-line purchase from dozens of locations around the US says something. Niche? Maybe. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a future for them.

Cheers,
Bill

Oh, and sorry Jenise. I'm sure Spätburgunder wasn't what you were looking for when you posted about Girardin!

When Rahsaan comments that the notion that all German spatburgunder under $50 is generic oaky junk doesn't sound very accurate, he is, of course, being very diplomatic indeed. I would call it hogwash.

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

[David M. Bueker]

Well, tithe last time I looked for any at retail (I would never buy these wines blind over the Internet), the cheapest was $12 (Lingenfelder) and was crap. The next cheapest was Kesseler Assmannshauser Hollenberg at $75, and since I could get 1er crux Burgundy for less I passed.

unless they want generic, oaky junk.


David, I believe you've just identified a what a significant portion of the wine buying public wants there.

Okay, forget the second sentence and just focus on the first, Dafid.

Are you saying that there isn't a noticeably significant portion of the market that is totally attuned to generic, oaky junk?

We can define generic as having no appreciable sense of place; oaky as having far too much attention being placed on oak, either in fermentation or aging; and junk as wine that is priced far above it's value and isn't worth the money that could have been spent elsewhere?

Last time I checked, that constituted much of the market. Not you and your market, no; but much of the drinking market.

[David M. Bueker]

unless they want generic, oaky junk.


David, I believe you've just identified a what a significant portion of the wine buying public wants there.

Okay, forget the second sentence and just focus on the first, David.

Are you saying that there isn't a noticeably significant portion of the market that is totally attuned to generic, oaky junk?

We can define generic as having no appreciable sense of place; oaky as having far too much attention being placed on oak, either in fermentation or aging; and junk as wine that is priced far above it's value and isn't worth the money that could have been spent elsewhere?

Last time I checked, that constituted much of the market. Not you and your market, no; but much of the drinking market.

I will conceded that the general public wants wine that we would consider junk. Note - not all of it is oaky. They drink a lot of Pinot Grigio.

What I will say is that barring catastrophic global warming, German Spatburgunder will never be able to satisfy such people, and thus will remain a niche product, and likely a much smaller niche than the Rieslings.

[David M. Bueker]

The problem with spatburgunder is the pricing. There is almost no way for US customers to be introduced to the wine for less than $50, unless they want generic, oaky junk.

As Rahsaan said, that just isn’t accurate. I did some checking on wine-searcher and found many good German Spätburgunder wines very competitively priced in the range of 12-30€ for sale in the US (it wouldn’t let me change the currency to USD for some reason.) To name just a few: producers like Becker, Kesseler, König, Heger, Huber, Salwey, Knipser, Meßmer, Rebholz, Christmann among others all make very good, honest Pinot Noir without new oak for the lower-end wines. I think that everyone but Knipser and Rebholz had a wine for under 20€ -name me ten Oregon producers who can say the same.

It is unlikely that these wines can be easily pulled off of a shelf at your corner liquor store, but the fact that they are available for on-line purchase from dozens of locations around the US says something. Niche? Maybe. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a future for them.

Cheers,
Bill

Ok, so I did a Wine Searcher search, and most came up with entries (nothing for Salwey at all). Many came up with half blank entries (e. g. a price but no description at all). The Kesseler Spatburgunder Trocken is a new bottling to me. My last experience with him had nothing in the 'value' range.

I will freely admit that much of my opinion of spatburgunder was formed at the Nahe/Ahr auction in 2003, where every single spatburgunder was undrinkably oaky and wildly underfruited.

But tell me where is the compelling reason for a US consumer to try these wines, even at the 'value' end? They retain the infamous "confusing German labels" and the word Spatburgunder sounds rather unpleasant to any but the most hardened geeks. Where are the passionate, knowledgeable retailers actually educating people about the wines?

I see too many hurdles for this wine to ever be more than the small niche I mentioned to Hoke above, even granting my error on availability in a reasonable price range.

As for Oregon - St. Innocent and Eyrie come to mind right now. I will ponder others, but as i am not aware of everyone's oak regimen I can't really say for sure.

Since this has become a thread on Spätburgunder now, I'll weigh in with a "Value" suggestion. In my experience, the basic Becker Spätburgunder (usually labeled in the US as Pinot Noir) has been a very nice Pinot Noir for around $20. In my area, it is hard to get much decent Pinot Noir for less than $25, unless it is on a significant discount.

As for Girardin, I always found his wines to be too oaky for my palate, both red and white.

Indeed, the real question is why aren’t these wines being promoted more in the US and other markets? People are busy. Riesling is easier (but yes, far from easy). Most of the producers who make top quality Riesling don’t make good Spätburgunder if they grow it at all.

Importers generally have the choice of taking the token Spätburgunder from their Riesling superstar, or searching out Spätburgunder specialists from the Pfalz, Baden or the Ahr that aren’t known for their Riesling. It is work enough keeping your existing producers happy these days without shouldering additional rocks to push up the hill. Priorities take precedence and unfortunately retailers have no idea what is out there or why they should be interested.

But exceptions exist. People who make great Riesling and great Spätburgunder are Knipser, Christmann, Rebholz, Wehrheim, Meßmer, Koehler-Ruprecht, Minges, Philipp Kühn, Siegrist, Keller, Diel, Kesseler, and Bergdolt among others. Some (certainly not all) of the wines are very affordable compared to what is available from OR, NZ and Burgundy and could give those regions a run on QPR at all but the most expensive price points. I won’t say that Germany can at present produce Pinot Noir to rival the best of Burgundy, but nor can the best of Germany be left out of the conversation when talking about the best Pinot Noir from around the world.

It has been allowed for a couple of years now to label your wines Pinot Noir instead of Spätburgunder in Germany for local consumption or export, though it is very rare in practice. The same goes for Weißburgunder (Pinot Blanc) and Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris). The reason being (I’ve been repeatedly told) is that these grapes have a long history in Germany and domestic consumers recognize them and even prefer their German synonyms simply for being German. Funny, as Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, and Chardonnay seem to do very well and sound pretty damn French to me.

The wines are compelling because they offer a different take on cool-climate Pinot Noir from unique soils, unique challenges and advantages in the vineyard, and because of this a different perspective from which to make Pinot Noir. The results can be excellent.

And I agree, Andrew. The Becker is a perfect example of what we're talking about.

Cheers,
Bill

[David M. Bueker]

I don't see a compelling argument here, and I'm a geek and predisposed towards German wine. Why should retailers stock these wines, and work to educate consumers enough to buy the wines when German Rieslings are already back to languishing on the shelves? The bloom that was 2001 is off the German rose.

Why should retailers stock these wines, and work to educate consumers enough to buy the wines when German Rieslings are already back to languishing on the shelves? The bloom that was 2001 is off the German rose.

I'm somewhat sympathetic to this argument as I don't think any of this stuff is necessary, especially from a wine consumer perspective where drinkers just want to have nice wine without complications.

Yet I believe that pinot noir is a more popular variety than riesling overall, which would suggest that German pinot noir might fill a need that German riesling doesn't. In addition, if people never tried to introduce something new, we wouldn't have had the Lynch Dressner et al. revolutions of the past 20-30 years.

[David M. Bueker]

Rahsaan,

I was more thinking about the Theise/Wiest revolution myself. Terry especially has introduced scads of new wines. I would think a new voice might be the one to carry German pinot.

Rahsaan,

I was more thinking about the Theise/Wiest revolution myself. Terry especially has introduced scads of new wines. I would think a new voice might be the one to carry German pinot.

Sure, that too. Although in some respects German pinot noir might be easier because it's red wine and not sweet!

If/when I rotate back to the states I would like very much to drink some German Pinot Noir with you fellows (I'm buyin'!) I am confident that the wine will speak for itself.

Cheers,
Bill