After working closely with his father for the past few years, Adrien Renoir took over his family’s five-hectare domaine in Verzy (Champagne Vincent Renoir) and began bottling exclusively under his name in 2019. Working exclusively with estate fruit, he abandoned herbicides in 2015 and attained organic certification in 2020.

Verzy is made up of a series of three hills and valleys thus allowing for a variety of vineyard expositions. The chalk is a little finer on the eastern side, near Villers-Marmery, where Renoir’s Les Montants Chardonnay vineyard is planted. Here you have 30/40cm of topsoil and then direct chalk. But on the Verzenay side, the soil is harder with 1 to 2 meters of black clay. Further down the slope is Les Epinettes, Renoir’s northwest-facing parcel of old vine pinot noir. This site’s slow ripening combined with poor, chalky soils creates a structured wine with taut acidity.

Working organically since 2015, he is currently applying some biodynamic treatments but is not yet certified. 2017 vintage will be certified organic. The village of Verzy has 50/60% selection massale planted before 1965. The vines for the lieux dits are all selection massale As of 2020 the domaine is organic certified

In the cellar, he started experimenting with one or two barrels and, now vinifies everything in barrel, maturing his reserve wines in oak foudres. Winemaking here is craft, with ambient yeast fermentations, lees stirring and no temperature control. The wines are disgorged with jetting but without any added sulfites and dosed with MCR.