The geography of a Burgundy estate can be as important to its future as the wines it makes. At Domaine Pierre Vincent, the addition of six hectares around Meursault will double the vineyard area under the team’s control to approximately 12 hectares. The move is less about pursuing size for its own sake than responding to a question increasingly familiar throughout the Côte de Beaune: how can a relatively small producer maintain continuity when harvest volumes become difficult to predict?
For Pierre Vincent and his partners, Hervé Kratiroff and Eric Versini, the answer involves both expanding their vineyard base and reconsidering how those vines are cultivated.
Domaine Pierre Vincent Strengthens Its Presence in Meursault
The expansion follows an agreement to take over the business of Domaine Jean-Philippe Fichet, adding vineyards in the Meursault and Bourgogne Blanc appellations to the existing holdings.
Unlike the partners’ first acquisition in 2023, which included vineyard land and buildings, this transaction has a different structure. It involves the purchase of the operating company and winery, while a significant proportion of the vines remain under lease. Those vineyard leases have been extended for 25 years, providing a measure of long-term stability.
The transaction was completed on 17 August 2026, coinciding with the beginning of the harvest. For the domaine, the additional parcels reinforce an already substantial white Burgundy portfolio while establishing a more significant presence around Meursault.
The location is particularly relevant. Meursault is one of the Côte de Beaune’s important centres for Chardonnay, and the new vineyards complement an existing collection of appellations spanning both white and red Burgundy.
From Burgundy Winemaker to Domaine Owner
Although Domaine Pierre Vincent is a relatively recent undertaking, its founder brings considerable experience from two established Burgundy producers.
Between 2006 and 2016, Pierre Vincent worked at Domaine de la Vougeraie, part of the Boisset group, before moving to Domaine Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet, where he worked from 2017 to 2024. His career has therefore encompassed both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay at a high level, long before he became responsible for an estate bearing his own name.
The opportunity arose in 2023, when Vincent joined forces with long-standing associates Hervé Kratiroff and Eric Versini to acquire Domaine Terres de Velle in Auxey-Duresses.
The original property was modest in size but remarkably diverse. Its six hectares were distributed across several Côte de Beaune appellations, including Corton-Charlemagne, Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet, Meursault, Volnay, Savigny-lès-Beaune, Auxey-Duresses and Monthélie.
That patchwork of vineyards gave the new domaine an unusually broad foundation, offering the opportunity to work with different expressions of Burgundy’s two principal grape varieties. The latest acquisition adds greater depth to that foundation rather than taking the estate in an entirely new direction.
Why Domaine Pierre Vincent Is Expanding Now
The decision to grow comes against a changing background for Burgundy viticulture. Harvest quantities have become a central concern for estates seeking to maintain reliable production and commercial relationships from one vintage to the next.
The particularly small 2024 harvest underlined that vulnerability for Vincent and his partners. With unpredictable yields creating uncertainty around future volumes, they began looking for opportunities to increase the vineyard area available to the domaine.
A larger vineyard base cannot eliminate the effects of difficult growing seasons. It can, however, provide more flexibility when individual parcels or appellations produce less fruit than expected.
For a producer building its reputation through estate-bottled wines, such considerations extend beyond the vineyard. Consistency of supply matters to importers, merchants and private customers who follow a domaine over successive vintages.
The Meursault acquisition therefore reflects a broader approach to resilience, combining additional production capacity with a longer-term commitment to vineyard management.
Rethinking Vineyard Practices for a Changing Climate
Expansion is only one part of Pierre Vincent’s response to changing conditions in Burgundy.
The domaine is already engaged in organic viticulture, and Vincent intends to explore further possibilities through agronomy and biodynamic practices. The emphasis is on understanding how cultivation methods can help vines adapt to increasingly demanding growing seasons.
Among the practical changes under consideration are higher vine canopies. Allowing more foliage to develop above the fruiting zone can influence the balance between sunlight exposure, shade and vine growth, although the results depend on the vineyard and prevailing conditions.
These decisions are particularly significant in the Côte de Beaune, where differences in site, soil and exposure have long shaped the character of individual wines. Adapting vineyard practices without losing that distinction is likely to remain an important consideration as the domaine develops.
A New Chapter for Bottling and Distribution
The enlargement of the vineyard area also follows a significant change in the estate’s commercial approach.
Before the 2023 takeover, Terres de Velle possessed an attractive collection of vineyards but sold much of its production through the négociant trade. Under the new ownership, the emphasis shifted towards bottling and distributing the wines directly under the domaine’s identity.
A rebuilt distribution network now allows the estate to market its production in bottle, with volumes reported at approximately 60,000 bottles. The longer-term objective is around 80,000 bottles in a normal harvest year.
The acquisition of Domaine Jean-Philippe Fichet brings another element to this strategy: an established grape-purchasing activity that previously represented approximately 8,000 bottles. Vincent intends to maintain and develop this side of the business alongside the estate’s vineyard production.
For Domaine Pierre Vincent, the move into Meursault is therefore more than a straightforward increase in hectares. It brings together vineyard access, production planning and commercial development at a time when Burgundy estates face difficult decisions about their future.
Whether the additional vineyards deliver the desired stability will become clearer over successive vintages. What is already evident is the direction of the estate: a broader foundation in the Côte de Beaune, with Meursault playing an increasingly important role.