Le Terroir Verzy Grand Cru Extra Brut L23/22

Le Terroir is the cuvée through which Adrien Renoir captures his entire village of Verzy: half Pinot Noir, half Chardonnay, made as Extra Brut. A Champagne shaped by chalk, old vines and extended lees ageing, rather than by dosage.

Verzy sits on the northern arc of the Montagne de Reims, where the vineyards meet the forest, and is one of the 17 villages classified as Grand Cru in Champagne. The subsoil is pure, belemnite-rich chalk: cool, water-retentive, and the source of the saline tension in the glass. Renoir's five hectares all lie within this village, planted between 1961 and 1971 from massal selection.

50% Pinot Noir for body and red fruit, 50% Chardonnay from the highest plots for freshness. The base wines ferment spontaneously with indigenous yeasts, increasingly in neutral oak and without temperature control. Around a fifth reserve wine aged in foudre adds depth; the code L23/22 denotes the 2023 base with reserve from 2022. After roughly 24 months on lees, the wine is dosed at 0.8 g/l and disgorged with no sulphur addition. 13.0% ABV.

A saline, chalky opening, followed by nashi pear, green apple and quince, with honey and fresh pastry. The acidity stays vibrant, the bead fine, the finish long and dry.

Oysters and scallops, grilled turbot, as well as poulet de Bresse or an aged Comté.

Since taking over the estate in 2014, Adrien Renoir has worked without herbicides; organic-certified since 2020 and farmed biodynamically, with cover crops between the rows rather than bare soil.