Bonville—A Brilliant Champagne, No Matter the Vintage!

This weekend, Cinnamon treated us to local Dungeness crab from Half Moon Bay, and I brought home a bottle of the 2013 Franck Bonville "Millesime" Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne to have with the noble crustacean. This batch, which just arrived by air, was disgorged in November of last year and dosed at 5.83 grams per liter. The 2013 harvest was one of the latest and most spun out in the history of Champagne and lasted from the 24th of September to the 9th of October and from what I have been told by the producers, very little vintage wine was made. The Bonville family has a strong tradition of making at least a little vintage wine each year, only ever from older plots on their estate in the Grand Cru of Avize. The 2013 vintage, like the 1992, we received in our very first shipment 17 years ago, is proof that they often make great wine in these “off” vintages.

On my birthday this year, we opened a bottle of the 1977 vintage that Olivier gave me for the occasion, and it was one of the most memorable Champagnes of 2019 for me. I don’t think that there has been a vintage as “off” as 1977 since, and I have only seen two offerings in all my trips to Champagne. Back in June of 2013, Cinnamon and I made a special trip to Champagne to participate in a vertical tasting of 22 vintages at Bonville, going back to the 1959. The 2013 is one more reason for me to say what I have been saying for years: Bonville is the most vertical worthy producer that we import.

If you are a fan of the near vanishing elegance of Veuve Clicquot’s La Grande Dame, the supreme delicacy of this 2013 is for you. This had me under its spell for sure. Olivier Bonville has made this millésime light, even tender touch, and yet the wine has no trace of dilution. I found the wine to be seamless with a crème fouetée character that I could not get enough of. It has flavors and aromatics of white flowers and subtle pastry crust and a super long, characteristically chalky finish. This is drinking very nicely now, but given how well the 1977 is still showing, and the wonderful acidity in the wine, should last at least a generation.

Join me in drinking one of these and tearing up your vintage chart. My bottle is already empty, and the chart is already in tatters.

A toast to you!
Gary