Julien Renard

Even though the Moselle is a great terroir for winemaking, it's hard to find winemakers who shake the codes of the region's classic Riesling, often rich in residual sugar, bland and heavily sulphured. What a pleasure it is to discover the wines of Julien Renard, son of a German-French love affair, who manages his 0.7 hectare stunning terraced Moselle vineyard with precision and an eye to the future. He worked for several wineries in Germany before acquiring his own plots of Riesling and Müller-Thurgau, which grow in world-class locations on 400-million-year-old grey and red slate with topsoils of sand, flint and clay. In his Winninger natural stone cellar, Julien non-invasively and without the use of additives designs his wines in such a way that the terroir seems to be experienced in a crystal clear and sensual way, with a focus on energy, minerality and acidity. We are thrilled by the tremendous finesse that, after only two vintages, demonstrates the young winemaker's deft subtlety in his vinifications. If you're a fan of Riesling, you shouldn't miss a vintage from this winery, and for those who aren't, Julien Renard's wines may well make you change your mind about this great grape that has left its contours in the wake of a dubious tradition. And when it comes to his Müller-Thurgau, it's simply one of the best we've ever tasted.