Thierry Renard

Thierry Renard, professor of oenology based in Clermont-Ferrand, has put his knowledge to work on a micro estate: 1.2 hectares of vines leased on the slopes of Clermont, planted in 1904, and overlooking the city’s great black-stoned cathedral. A close friend of Patrick Bouju’s, Thierry is cut from the same cloth as these wholly committed, uncompromising natural winemakers. 800 bottles come out of his winery annually, sometimes fewer... All it takes is a slightly too pronounced volatile acidity, or a flock of birds from the city that decides to help themselves to the harvest, and his cuvées skip a vintage. The parcel that Thierry farms is planted with superb specimens of Gamay d'Auvergne, but also of Pinot Noirs derived from a massal selection made from vines at Clos des Epeneaux in Pommard. A parcel on a steep slope situated at an altitude of 500 metres. In other words, an ideal playground for this aesthete of wine. In the winery, Thierry carries out long macerations and long maturation periods in old barrels. Zero additives or any other oenological artifice are used. Rare and ultra confidential, these are wines for connoisseurs.