50% Gamay/50% Poulsard. The Renardats are 7th-generation vignerons of mainly méthode ancestrale Cerdon du Bugey wines in the tiny village of Mérignat in northern Bugey. They farm 13 hectares of Gamay and Poulsard biodynamically (certified as of the 2022 vintage) in these high, rolling, wooded, steep hills of poor, rocky, clay-limestone soils. Like their Cerdon bu Bugey, their "Au Commencement" Vin de France is also a pink méthode ancestrale wine; but there are key differences: a higher proportion of Poulsard, much less residual sugar and much higher alcohol. The fruit is harvested by hand, gently pressed and naturally fermented at cold temperatures in steel tanks. The wine is bottled at about 6% alcohol and slowly continues its fermentation in the chilly cellar. There is no sulfur added at any point. The wine is disgorged and finished at only 8 grams/liter of residual sugar and 12% ABV in the 2023 vintage. The family doesn't make this wine annually and the production is miniscule when they do.