Champagne Marguet Bonnerave

Before heading out to Champagne, K&L Wine Merchants Champagne buyer Gary Westby suggested a few winemakers worth visiting. While some wine makers love the opportunity to talk about their work, it is nevertheless a good thing to have introductions. Properly fortified with all due decorum and with a bit of roadside assistance from the local farm hands, Benoit, the fifth generation wine maker at Marguet Bonnerave, and mom (Benoit's) hosted the visit.

Benoit’s grapes come from 35 parcels in Ambonnay, Bouzy and Mailly-Champagne for a total of 13 hectares (32 acres) of vineyards - 70% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, vine average age of 26, planting density of 8,300 vines per hectare (3,360 per acre). Based on the official Champagne classification, 17 villages are recognized as Grand Cru amongst the 300 or so within the Champagne AOC (Appellation d'Origne Controlée) with a further 41 rated as Premier Cru. All of Marguet Bonnerave’s grapes come from plots with the Grand Cru designation.

Benoit is experimenting with bio-dynamic farming methods on some of his parcels. He also talked about the terroir and how he learnt the land as a kid walking around with his father and trying to estimate how deep the top soil is before hitting chalk. (To find out, he would make an estimate and then dig a hole to verify.) He got really bright-eyed talking about extracting must from grape's elusive pulp zone 2 to make the best wine. He also has some fermented chardonnay to sample which has a strong hint of banana oil.




Details
Marguet-Bonnerave
14, rue de Bouzy
51150 Ambonnay
www.champagne-bonnerave.com

(Other lines of champagne from the Marguet-Bonnerave house)
Champagne Marguet Pere & Fils
Les Champagnes de Benoit
www.champagne-marguet.com


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