He is not from Burgundy, does not come from a family with a viticultural tradition and bought his first vineyard (half an acre) only in 2002.
Until then, Jérôme Galeyrand worked in the food industry. His first contact with Burgundy was with two vintages he made at the Domaine Alain Burguet in Gevrey-Chambertin. Then the wine germ entered him, he enrolled in the Beaune school and decided to change course.
Without family tradition and vineyards, it is natural for Jerome not to have vineyards in any of the famous grand cru or premier cru vineyards in Burgundy. It produces wines only at regional or village level. However, in a way, its wines have managed to "break" the system of designations of origin of Burgundy.
The quality and hype that accompanies the 25000 bottles of annual production is much higher than one would expect for "humble" designations of origin, such as the Cote de Nuits Villages.
Jerome's passion for old vines has more to do with age but with the rare genetic material he finds in them. He largely believes that the differences one encounters in the character of the neighboring villages (especially in the past) have nothing to do with both the vinification and the different natural Pinot Noir clones from village to village. He has identified some such clones in his vines (such as Pinot Magnien in Fixin Champ de Charmes) but also in the vines of other producers, such as Rousseau and Dugat-Py. From such old vines he draws genetic material for the new massale plantings (mass clonal selection) he applies. The extremely interesting thing is that old clones are usually available in lesser known vineyards. The lesser interest in investments helped them get rid of the selected, laboratory clones while maintaining great variability that gives tremendous depth and character to the wines.
The cultivation applied by Galeyrand is organically certified while in the process of biodynamic certification. In the winery there is a small, old vertical press. Applies direct pressure to the whites while the reds "soak" (extract) with minimal pigeage. Sylvain Pataille introduced him to the traditional technique of whole bunch and the percentage of bunches he uses varies from 10-50% depending on the year, the vineyard, the genetic material, etc. The sulfites are minimal and only during bottling. Reds may have no addition at all. Galeyrand produces white wines of amazing energy and clarity and red wines with depth and beautiful textures, full of fluidity but also fine-grained structure. Jérôme is a real phenomenon for the vineyard of Burgundy.
