Adrien Renoir is a grower-producer based in Verzy, a Grand Cru village on the eastern Montagne de Reims whose Pinot Noir vineyards grow on chalk and clay soils at an altitude that tempers ripeness and preserves the natural acidity and mineral tension that are the hallmarks of great Montagne de Reims Champagne. The Les Montants cuvée takes its name from one of the named lieux-dits within Verzy Grand Cru, a specific parcel whose character Renoir has chosen to document and vinify separately as a single-vineyard expression of the village’s finest terroir. The decision to produce a lieu-dit Champagne reflects the same drive towards Burgundian precision in site documentation that has animated the most thoughtful grower producers over the past two decades.

Verzy Grand Cru produces Pinot Noir of a distinctive character that differs from its neighbours on the Montagne: higher in altitude than Bouzy or Ambonnay, with soils that produce wines of slightly greater tension, mineral austerity and restraint in youth, requiring more time to open than the rounder, more immediately generous expressions of the warmer, lower-altitude Montagne sites. A single-vineyard expression from within this already distinctive terroir, produced in the 2020 vintage when warm growing conditions brought generous fruit ripeness to the naturally tense Verzy base wines, should show the interplay between the village’s structural character and the vintage’s generous fruit with particular clarity.

Single-lieu-dit Champagnes from Verzy Grand Cru represent some of the most intellectually compelling and terroir-specific expressions currently available from the grower Champagne movement. Adrien Renoir’s decision to document Les Montants as a specific parcel expression, rather than blending it into a village or Grand Cru cuvée, reflects both the quality of the site and the producer’s ambition to communicate the full complexity of Verzy’s terroir across a range of wines that map the village in detail. For collectors who follow Verzy with attention and seek terroir-specific Champagnes of documented character, Les Montants is a wine of genuine importance.

Pale gold with fine, lively bubbles and a pure, mineral nose of white cherry, red apple, toasted brioche, chalk and a distinctive earthy mineral depth from the Verzy Grand Cru terroir. Medium-bodied on the palate with excellent natural acidity, a clean, fine mousse and a long, structured, mineral finish that reflects the altitude and terroir of this exceptional Montagne de Reims village. Best from 2025 through 2034.