Background
Derenoncourt was born in Dunkirk in 1963.
Derenoncourt was born in Dunkirk in 1963.
He is entirely self-taught. The start of his career in viticulture began when he arrived as a hitch-hiker in Fronsac in 1982, and worked several harvests before he found employment at Château Fronsac in 1985. After two years working at various vineyards, he began working in the cellar at Château Louisiana Fleur Cailleau.
In 1990, Derenoncourt was offered a position at the Corre-Macquin family’s cellar at the Château Pavie-Macquin vineyard, and in 1996 was hired as a winemaker by Stephan von Neipperg to his estates, including Château Canon-la-Gaffelière and the "super cuvée" Louisiana Mondotte.
In 2010, Stéphane Derenoncourt, Julien Lavenu, Simon Blanchard and Frédéric Massie are associates and the consultancy becomes Derenoncourt Consultants. Derenoncourt and his team now works with a populous portfolio of estates in Bordeaux and elsewhere, including Domaine de Chevalier, Clos Fourtet, Clos de l"Oratoire and Chateaux Pavie-Macquin, Chateau Malescasse, Canon-la-Gaffelière, Louisiana Gaffelière, Petit Village, Smith Haut Lafitte, Brown, Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Rol Valentin, Prieuré-Lichine and Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarrosse.
In June 2008, Derenoncourt and Vignerons Consultants was hired by Francis Ford Coppola to work on the Napa Valley property Rubicon Estate Winery. Other Derenoncourt projects abroad include engagements in Italy, Austria, Spain, Turkey, in Syria with Domaine de Bargylus, and in Beqaa Valley, Lebanon with Château Marsyas.
In late 2009, Derenoncourt released his first California wine, Derenoncourt California, a project started in 2006.
The 2006 vintage of Derenoncourt California features five single-vineyard wines: a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from Caldwell Vineyard, a Napa Valley Cabernet Franc from Caldwell Vineyard, a Napa Valley Merlot from Stagecoach Vineyard, a Napa Valley Syrah from Carneros, and a Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon from Red Hills Vineyard. The wines are produced at Arkenstone Vineyards on Howell Mountain. His inaugural United States. wines received positive reviews from James Laube of the Wine Spectator, Joshua Greene of Wine & Spirits, and L. Pierce Carson of the Napa Valley Register, among others
Derenoncourt has also been a member of the Montesquieu Wines buying team since 2006, selecting wines Montesquieu offers its clients.
