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Champagne Bonnet-Ponson, Extra-Brut, “Cuvée Perpétuelle”

Champagne, France NV (750mL)
$55.00
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Champagne Bonnet-Ponson, Extra-Brut, “Cuvée Perpétuelle”

Bonnet-Ponson is a récoltant-manipulant (“grower-producer”) that has been on the SommSelect radar for some time now—you couldn’t ask for a better example of a new-generation Champagne producer on the rise. When Cyril Bonnet joined his father at the family’s estate in 2013, his first order of business was to begin converting their 10 hectares of vineyards to organics. He’s a young talent with a keen eye for detail, and today’s “Cuvée Perpétuelle” is at once cutting-edge and deeply traditional. 
The reserve wine used in this bottling comes not from an assortment of specific back vintages but from a réserve perpétuelle, or “perpetual reserve”—a single vessel in which many back-vintage wines are blended together. Bonnet is emulating luminaries like Bérêche (whose “Reflet d’Antan” draws from a perpetual reserve) and Pierre Peters, and he’s delivered a wine of serious depth here at an astoundingly reasonable price. Driven by Pinot Noir from Montagne de Reims and incorporating a solid 40% reserve wine from Bonnet’s ever-evolving solera, this is a gastronomic Champagne of great dimension and detail, with only the most modest dosage added for balance. It really rocked our world: I can’t recommend it highly enough!
Of course, everyone in Champagne incorporates “reserve” wines—i.e. wines from previous vintages, left in tank or barrel—to their “non-vintage” blends. It’s standard practice, with the back-vintage wines lending depth to the flavor and texture and helping the vintner maintain a consistent style from year to year. But whereas some producers store back vintages individually, turning to them like a mixologist might eye the bottles on the back bar, others simply add leftover lots of the latest vintage’s wine to a vessel that contains all the previous vintages blended together. This “perpetual” blending method is often referred to as a solera, even though it isn’t technically the same as those found in the Jéréz region of Spain (Sherry).

Some smaller producers maintain perpetual blends out of necessity—space constraints in their cellars may prohibit them from storing vintages separately—but the result, regardless, is a reserve wine of enhanced complexity and what the Champenois might call “vinosity.” That’s a calling card of Bonnet’s Cuvée Perpétuelle, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given the substantial percentage of reserve wine in the blend.

Comprised of 40% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, and 30% Pinot Meunier from the Premier Cru villages of Chamery, Vrigny, and Couloummes-la-Montage, on the western slopes of the Montagne de Reims, the Cuvée Perpétuelle was fermented in a mix of stainless steel vats (85%) and oak barrels, then aged eight months on its lees before blending with the reserve wine. It then spent a minimum of four years in bottle before disgorgement, after which it received a dosage of 3-4 milligrams per liter (qualifying it as Extra-Brut, the driest category other than no dosage at all).

In the glass, this is a full-throated Montagne de Reims sparkler, with a fine bead and a glistening straw-gold hue. The aromas are a heady mix of yellow apple, salted lemon peel, green pear, red berries, brioche dough, crushed rocks, white flowers, and wintry spices. It is medium-plus in body, with lots of persistence on the palate culminating in a long and satisfying finish. It’s serious Champagne for food, best enjoyed from a more open-mouthed flute or, as I so often recommend, a red-wine stem. Let it come up to about 50 degrees in the glass as you sip it with either passed appetizers or main courses. I’d love this wine with some impeccably fresh salmon, prepared simply and served with some bitter winter greens—you won’t miss red wine one bit with this structured sparkler in hand, believe me. Vinosity, indeed! Enjoy!

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Country
France
Region
Champagne
Sub-Region
FranceMontagne de Reims
Soil
Chalky Limestone
Farming
Organic Practices
Blend
40% Pinot Noir, 30% Pinot Meunier, and 30% Chardonnay
Alcohol
12.5
OAK
Some Neutral French
TEMP.
45-50
Glassware
Open-Mouthed Flute or White Wine
Drinking
Now-2030
Pairing
Crispy Salmon & Wilted Chard

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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