Michel Gonet Grand Cru Mesnil Sur Oger NV

With over 40 hectares planted, Champagne Michel Gonet produces almost a dozen different cuvées. This particular one stands apart from those as it is the result of a philosophical partnership between Marco Pelletier of Domaine de Galouchey and the Gonet family. Marco is helping them isolate their best parcels and along with Gonet’s new Chef de Cave experimenting with different vinification styles. This 2011 is the first release from their partnership.

The 2011 is coming entirely from one of the Gonet family's most historic parcels: Les Hautes Mottes in Le Mesnil Sur Oger. It is 100% Chardonnay that spent five years on its lees and is zero dosage.

Gonet is a very old name in Champagne. The family moved to Champagne from the Beaujolais in the 15th century and worked in the vineyards before establishing a Champagne house in the early 1800s. Each subsequent generation helped lay a foundation for a successful domaine with the most recent patriarch, Michel Gonet, enlarging the cellars in Avize and refocusing their winemaking in the 1970s.

The total holdings are around 40 hectares, consisting mostly of Chardonnay on the Côte des Blancs. The vines are located in the villages of Le Mesnil sur Oger, a little further south, in Vindey on the Sézannais hillsides, and also near Troyes, on the slopes of Montgueux.