Champagne Bonnet Ponson - Cuvée Perpétuelle - Extra Brut - Premier Cru
Champagne Bonnet Ponson is located in Chamery, in the Petite Montagne de Reims , Premier Cru Village of Champagne . Since 1862, the family has been producing Champagne with Grégoire Bonnet as one of the first harvesters in the village. After him, Jules Bonnet enlarged the estate by buying new plots in Chamery and installing a 5,500 kg wooden press powered by human power, before electricity reached the village, around 1902. His son Raoul moved to another place in the village after the destruction of the family cellar by a bombardment in the Second World War. He then initiated the construction of the current cellars to store his small production of around 5,000 bottles per year. He was quickly joined by his son André, who was responsible for plowing the family vines with his two horses from the age of 14. In 1956, André Bonnet met Monique Ponson, herself from a family of winegrowers from Vrigny, another village in the Montagne de Reims. From their union, André and Monique founded the Bonnet-Ponson estate, cultivating a few plots of Meunier and Pinot noir in Chamery, Vrigny and Coulommes la Montagne . After a life of hard work, the surface of the vines was extended to 9 hectares, planted with the three grape varieties in equal parts. For 30 years, their son Thierry Bonnet continued the development of the estate with the construction of new cellars and the addition of an additional hectare to the vineyard, several new plots in the communes of Chamery, Vrigny and Verzenay . After studying oenology and working as a winegrower in the south-west of France, Cyril Bonnet joined the family estate in 2013, starting at the same time the conversion of the entire vineyard to organic farming , which is now certified .
This Cuvée Perpétuelle Extra-Brut is a blend of Pinot Noir (40%), Chardonnay (30%) and Meunier (30%) , with 40% reserve wines from previous harvests. The Champagne comes from a selection of plots of vines aged 35 years from the terroirs of Chamery, Vrigny and Coulommes-la-Montagne, classified Premier Cru. The first fermentation takes place in stainless steel vats (85%) and in 228 liter oak barrels (15%) and the wine undergoes a malolactic conversion . Aging on lees lasted 8 months before being blended into the reserve wine. The second fermentation is done in the bottle with a dosage of 1 g/L . The wine is aged in the bottle for a minimum of 4 additional years .
Grapes: 40% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, 30% Meunier
