Verzenay Grand Cru "les Potences" - Extra Brut

When Adrien Rousseaux took over this 2.6-hectare Montagne de Reims estate in 2012, he inherited a philosophy his family had been quietly practising since Paul Rousseaux released the first commercial bottles around 1920: vinify each plot separately, follow the wine rather than the calendar, and never filter.

Les Potences draws on Grand Cru Pinot Noir from Verzenay's deep chalk soils overlaid with clay and marl — a profile that drives the wine's structural tension and pronounced saline minerality rather than richness. Primary fermentation takes place in oak barrels (fûts de chêne), with new oak held to approximately 10% to introduce subtle oxygen exposure without extracting flavour; lees aging runs a minimum of 36 months.

Bottled without filtration and without cold stabilisation, at extra-brut dosage (1–5.5 g/l), the wine retains a light natural sediment that signals zero cosmetic intervention. What separates Rousseaux-Batteux from virtually every other récoltant-manipulant is

the refusal of a fixed recipe: oak regimes, blending decisions, and disgorgement timing shift vintage by vintage, making each release a terroir document rather than a house-style product.

Expect a taut, chalk-driven Blanc de Noirs with integrated acidity and genuine mid-term cellaring potential of 5–8 years from disgorgement.