Description
The wine
Verzy is Pinot Noir country. The Grand Cru slopes produce the grape with more restraint and mineral precision than the warmer, richer villages of the Montagne de Reims — the chalk beneath the clay-limestone soils keeps everything tense and focused. A Blanc de Noirs from Verzy is not the same wine as a Blanc de Noirs from Aÿ or Ambonnay. It is cooler, more structured, more specific to its place.
Alban Corbeaux calls this cuvée Copin — a regional Champenois dialect word for friend. The name carries across the range: Copin for each single-variety wine, Les Copins for the blend that brings them together. This is the red grape version — 100% Pinot Noir from two specific lieu-dits within Verzy Grand Cru:
La Queu des Loges — planted 1963
Les Chemins de Wez — planted 1984
Both plots farmed organically with biodynamic practices. Fermented entirely in old oak barrels — no stainless steel — with indigenous yeasts and full malolactic fermentation. Extra brut. 1,300 bottles made.
Vineyard & vintage details
Producer: Champagne Pierre Deville
Cuvée: ‘Copin’ Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut
Terroir: 100% Verzy Grand Cru
Grape: 100% Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2020
Lieu-dits: La Queu des Loges (1963) · Les Chemins de Wez (1984)
Soil: Chalk-limestone
Farming: Organic · biodynamic practices
Vinification: 100% old oak barrel fermentation · indigenous yeasts · full malolactic fermentation
Dosage: Extra Brut
Production: 1,300 bottles
2020 vintage note
2020 was a warm, generous vintage across Champagne — excellent growing conditions, natural ripeness, and good structure. For a Blanc de Noirs from old vines in Grand Cru Verzy, the vintage adds weight and depth without sacrificing the chalk-driven precision that defines this terroir. More immediately approachable than the leaner 2021, and with the concentration to develop over the next five years.
The 2021 vintage is also available — a leaner, more mineral expression of the same parcels in a more challenging year.
Tasting notes
Red apple, ripe cherry, a hint of warm spice and dried rose petal. The palate has more generosity and weight than the 2021 — the vintage’s ripeness is evident — but the chalk soils of Verzy keep it honest, and the old oak ageing adds texture without imposing flavour. Long, dry finish with the saline mineral quality characteristic of this terroir. Drink now through 2030.
Service: 10–12°C. Roast chicken, grilled salmon, mushroom dishes, aged soft cheeses.
Alban Corbeaux is the fourth generation of the Corbeaux-Deville family farming in Verzy Grand Cru since 1963. Trained in Burgundy before returning to take over the domaine in 2017 — biodynamic farming, indigenous yeasts, zero or low dosage. Five hectares in one of the Montagne de Reims’ most distinctive Grand Cru villages.
