Henri Giraud
One of our favourite Maisons, Henri Giraud has been making Champagnes of character and spirit for generations. Located in Aÿ, the former capital of wine growing in the champagne region as it produced Red Wines of distinction. Aÿ is a Grand Cru village, famed for its powerful Pinot Noir fruit and is also the home of Bollinger, Deutz and Gosset. This is a unique family run maison and has a individual style and a focus on the use of barrel especially from the Argonne Forest, and more recently, clay amphora and concrete eggs. In fact they are aiming to be the first champagne house to move away completely from the use of stainless steel and devote its entire production to oak. Owner Claude Giraud believes in ‘Terroir in the forest’ and has worked relentlessly for almost 30 years, understanding this relationship. He created a cuvee named ‘Fût du Chêne’ which embodies this idea. All Pinot Noir, fermented and aged in barrel. He is famous for stating, “history knows of no great wines without great forests.” If you like characterful champagnes with power and class explore this Maison, you will not be disappointed.
Henri Giraud — a Proud and Distinguished History
One of the oldest producers in the business, Henri Giraud Champagne has been associated with French royalty since the Seventeenth Century and is proud of its history. It is now run by Claude Giraud, who represents the twelfth generation of the family to manage the company.
The Giraud house is based in the grand cru of Ay, where wines have been rated among the best in the world for over ten centuries. Owning vines and a wine press in Ay was supposedly the wish of many members of French royalty and champagne was originally known as ‘wine of Ay’. At the heart of the Champagne region, Ay is classified as a ‘Grand Cru’, one of only seventeen of the 323 Champagne vineyards to qualify for this highest classification.
Innovation and Sustainability
Claude Giraud is well aware of the business ancestry and uses the past to develop its future success. He is extremely passionate about champagne and uses innovative methods to make any improvements he can. That includes maintaining the high quality of the wine as well as caring for the environment, and this is demonstrated by the use of wooden barrels for ageing.
Although wooden barrels were traditionally used for champagne, they were largely superseded by stainless steel vats in the late 1940s. These have now been replaced at Henri Giraud so that primary fermentation takes place exclusively in oak barrels.
All these barrels originate from oaks grown in the nearby Argonne Forest, so preserving the links to the local area and maintaining the wine’s terroir. There’s also a commitment to replacing every oak tree used so that the forest is fully restored over time and the whole process is sustainable.
Giraud has ten hectares of vines of its own plus a further fifteen hectares that are owned by family members or friends. The ground in Ay is chalky soil that soaks up water and the terrain is mostly south-facing slopes, so the grapes ripen in the sun.
Around 40% of plantings in the Champagne region are Pinot Noir, one quarter are Chardonnay and the rest are Pinot Meunier. Giraud cultivates only the first two of these to produce its champagne.
Complexity, Balance and Flavour
The Henri Giraud brut output reflects the various elements of the Ay cru and the processing methods. It has the strength and body of the Pinot Noir with elements of chalk, salinity and menthol. The wines are particularly complex with balance and freshness to add to their power.
Many of these characteristics are put down to the use of oak barrels for fermentation and ageing, which is then followed by four years of maturing in the bottle with the yeast lees. The result is a powerful and intense flavour that’s not for the faint-hearted.
Although Henri Giraud has been one of the outstanding champagne houses for a considerable time, it sold only direct to private clients until the 1990s and so was not widely known. That’s now all changed and, with Claude Giraud’s continuing quest to produce excellent wines, its reputation will only continue to grow. But with an annual output limited to 250,000 bottles to maintain the high quality, its wines are likely to be in great demand.