NV Franck Bonville Unisson Grand Cru, Champagne, France

ABOUT THIS WINE

As with their flagship Blanc de Blancs, Bonville’s Grand Cru cuvée “Unisson” (“unison”) can vary from year to year in vineyard sources, reserve wines, and dosage levels, but their aim here is a more complex and mineral-dominated character than the flagship—a profile enhanced by spending more time on the lees before disgorgement. This release comes entirely from holdings in the grand cru Avize, from roughly equal proportions of the 2017 and 2016 harvests, and it was disgorged after nearly five years on the lees with a dosage of 6.7 grams per liter.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

The Franck Bonville estate in Avize has been producing wine from their holdings in Avize, Oger, and Le Mesnil sur Oger for four generations, and today Olivier Bonville, along with his son-in-law Ferdinand Ruelle-Dudel, are guiding the 15-hectare domaine toward ever more precise and distinctive renderings of these terroirs. Currently certified Haute Valeur Environnementale, they have eschewed the use of chemical herbicides and pesticides for over a decade now, and they are currently converting their 77 assorted parcels to fully organic viticulture bit by bit. Bonville’s nine hectares in grand cru Avize comprise the heart of their holdings, augmented by four and a half hectares in grand cru Oger, and a hectare and a half in the coveted chalk of grand cru Le Mesnil sur Oger. Their spacious and beautifully understated cellar, constructed in the 1850s, accommodates a production of roughly 130,000 bottles per year, and allows them to employ extended lees aging for many of their cuvées. They do not block malolactic fermentation, and while most of their wines are vinified and aged in stainless steel before bottling for their secondary fermentations, they employ oak aging for their single-parcel “Les Belles Voyes” and plan to expand that element of their regimen based on the positive results they’ve obtained.