A single-varietal Blanc de Noirs from 50-year-old Pinot Noir vines in the Grand Cru village of Verzy – chalky-saline, fruity and uncompromisingly dry with just 1.6 g/L dosage.
66,50 €88,67 € / l
Incl. VAT where applicable
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Fresh and sapid white and red berries, stony notes; with air, delicate autolysis, graphite, wood, a hint of sherry, cream toffee and white nougat.
Palate
Silky yet firm, spicy and citrusy, piquantly bitter and mineral; behind this, creaminess, red and yellow fruit, toast, almond and a mouth-watering saline pull.
Character
Young and still somewhat restless, it needs air or cellar time – then it reveals the taut tension and depth of old Verzy vines on chalk and clay soils.
Pairing
Smoked salmon, pan-fried mushrooms on robust sourdough bread, Comté or a delicate veal tartare.
Notes
Single-varietal Pinot Noir from a single vintage and a single Grand Cru village; spontaneously fermented, aged without sulphur, left on the gross lees in used barriques and foudres, disgorged with minimal dosage – a mono-cru Champagne from organically certified vineyards.
Tasting note
Colour & appearance
Orange to copper, a hue that immediately gives away the pure Pinot Noir. Alongside it, a lively, fine mousse that dances in the glass rather than foams.
Nose
Crisp white and red berries, beneath which lies a cool stoniness that seems to come straight from the chalk of Verzy. With air and a little warmth, delicate autolytic notes join in: graphite, a hint of wood, a fleeting sherry-like nuance – and, quite suddenly, cream toffee and white nougat. A bouquet that reinvents itself step by step.
Palate
At first unsettled, almost electrifying – understandable, as disgorgement took place barely a month ago. Those who wait will be rewarded: the wine turns silky without losing its firmness, becoming spicy and zesty, with a piquant-bitter edge and deep minerality. Beneath this move red and yellow fruit, toast, almond and a mouth-watering, almost maritime saltiness that tenses the palate like a string.
Finish
Long and chalky, with lingering bitter zest and a salty final wave that practically wrings out the mouth. A finale without any sweetness whatsoever – the dosage of 1.6 g/L remains invisible.
Terroir & origin
Verzy, one of Champagne’s 17 Grand Cru villages, sits on the northern edge of the Montagne de Reims, where the vines border the forest with its famous, bizarrely twisted Faux de Verzy trees. The subsoil is pure, belemnite-rich chalk – here an argilo-calcaire, limestone with a clay component – cool, water-retentive and the source of the salty tension in the glass. Renoir’s vines are around fifty years old, planted by massal selection, with deep roots such as young plantings rarely achieve.
Grape variety & vinification
A single-varietal Pinot Noir from the 2023 vintage. The base wine fermented spontaneously, remained unsulphured and rested on its gross lees in used barriques and wooden casks. Tirage in July 2024, disgorgement in June 2026, dosage 1.6 g/L – an uncompromising Extra Brut.
Food recommendations
The red fruit and salty spice call for smoked trout, tuna tataki or a duck carpaccio. With mature Comté or mushroom dishes – a chanterelle tart, for instance – this Champagne shows that a Blanc de Noirs can do far more at table than serve as an aperitif.
Special features
Adrien Renoir works in Verzy with organic certification (since 2020) and disgorges his Champagnes without adding sulphur – a method that would carry every flaw unvarnished into the glass and therefore demands the utmost care. Le Cepage is his pure village Pinot: five hectares, one place, one variety, nowhere to hide.
