I first met Pierre-Maxime and Victor Chardigny at one of the larger organic wine fairs in Montpellier in February 2022. We were particularly looking for or expecting to find our first Burgundy supplier here, but their stand seemed very popular and so I stopped to taste the wines. Immediately I was struck by their pure, delineated, elegant nature.

Pierre-Maxime and Victor Chardigny had taken the reins of this 200-year-old Saint-Véran estate in 2014 with the third brother, Jean-Baptiste joining them in 2019 after moving over from his role as Domaine Joseph Leflaive’s viticulturalist for their Mâcon vineyards. The estate is certified organic and in conversion for biodynamic certification with Jean-Baptiste leading the process. Victor oversees wine making and brings with him experience gained at Chateau La Nerthe (Châteauneuf-du-Pape) and Foradori (Trentino Alto Adige) to name a just a couple of his previous employers. Pierre-Maxime takes care of the business side of the operation and together they are busy implementing a more progressive outlook at the winery and beginning to produce some distinctive, excellent quality wines.

Wine making at Domaine Chardigny is always on native yeast with no inoculations. Wines ferment in a combination of barrels, oak vats and steel tanks and older oak is used carefully during élevage. Many of the estate’s vineyards are towards the top of the slopes of Saint-Véran, going some way to explaining the freshness that marks out the wines. Sulphite additions are kept to an absolute minimum (between 0 and 16 mg/L in the current release) and the domaine also makes a lovely pet nat that we also have in stock.