Description
93 Points | The Wine Advocate, Kristaps Karklins
Le Cepage is crafted entirely from Pinot Noir, sourced from the grand cru of Verzy, originating from 10 to 15 parcels characterized by comparatively shallow soils. Adrien Renoir remarks that when crafting this cuvée, he selects barrels that showcase a harmonious equilibrium between fruit, tension and a distinctive saline character. Entirely from the 2022 vintage and disgorged in December 2024 with a dosage of 1.6 grams per liter, the NV Verzy Grand Cru Le Cepage (2022) greets the nose with notes of red berries, pear, white flowers and brioche. Medium to full-bodied, ample and concentrated, it is a charming rendition with a succulent core of fruit and a long, persistent finish.
Published: May 08, 2025
Adrien Renoir, a young and dynamic winemaker, crafted his first vintage in 2014, but it wasn't until 2019 that he assumed full control of the family’s five-hectare estate in Verzy. With this transition, Renoir shifted his focus toward highlighting single-parcel wines. He works exclusively with estate-grown grapes: 70% of the vineyards are planted with Pinot Noir, 27% with Chardonnay and the remaining portion with Pinot Meunier. In 2014, Renoir abandoned the use of herbicides and, having farmed organically since 2017, attained organic certification in 2020. Planting hedges and trees around and within his parcels, he's a pioneer of agroforestry in his sector.
In the cellar, Renoir started out with one or two barrels and, appreciating the results, he has, since 2015, vinified all his wines in 228-liter oak barrels, renewing 5% to 8% of them annually. The young wines mature for 11 months on the lees, with his reserve wines aged in large oak foudres of 12 and 20 hectoliters. Winemaking here is artisanal, with native yeast fermentations for alcoholic fermentation, forgoing lees stirring (though he practiced it early on), and no temperature control. Full malolactic fermentation is embraced, and sulfites are used only during pressing. The wines are disgorged using jetting, without added sulfites at disgorgement and dosed with a combination of liqueur d’expédition and rectified grape must (MCR).
The focus here lies in the lieu-dit bottlings from Verzy, with single-parcel wines sourced from massal selection vines planted between 1961 and 1973. Additionally, Renoir produces several excellent non-vintage cuvées from parcels scattered across the grand cru-classified village of Verzy.
The style is vinous and gastronomic yet retains all the incisiveness one expects from serious viticulture in north-facing terroirs such as these.