Franck Bonville “Pur Mesnil”, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Grand Cru, Blanc de Blancs, Extra Brut 2018 750ml

“Pur Mesnil” hails from three parcels on the lower stretches of the grand cru of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, where Bonville owns 1.5 hectares of vines: Les Zailleux, Le Tilleul, and Les Hautes Mottes. In this hallowed cru, topsoil is nearly nonexistent, as the underlying chalk is found just centimeters below the surface, and wine it yields is chiseled, saline, and bristling with tension. The five years lees aging to which Bonville subjects this cuvée lends a sense of creaminess which nicely offsets the terroir’s tendency toward severity. “Pur Mesnil” is vinified entirely in stainless steel, and undergoes underwent full malolactic fermentation.