Clos des Grillons - Nicolas Renaud
RHÔNE
Historical terroir of the Côtes-du-Rhône, the Gard is the department with the greatest surface area of land farmed organically. With some of the pioneers who changed the image of Gard wines – Jean-François Nicq when he worked at the Cave des Vignerons d'Estézargues, Éric Pfifferling of l'Anglore – natural wine has found something of a promised land. Nicolas Renaud, with his estate Clos des Grillons, has established himself as a major figure in the Southern Rhône, with cuvées that are both free and sensual.
Leaving his job as a history teacher to train in viticulture and then become a winegrower in 2007, Nicolas Renaud set up an estate in Rochefort-du-Gard which today has 18 hectares of vines spread over the Côtes-du-Rhône and Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages-Signargues appellation areas. From the outset, his project is that of viticulture without chemical products (organic/biodynamics) and of natural vinification, where the grapes and the character of the terroir are expressed at the same time, with a concern for freshness and balance. The vineyard is made up of Rhone grape varieties: in particular Bourboulenc (old vine from 1901) and Grenache gris & bland for the whites, and Grenache noir, blended with Cinsault, Mourvèdre, Carignan or Syrah for the reds. The resulting wines offer remarkable purity and precision of expression.