allaboutCheltenham.com Vintage Champagne

If you can't wait for the Competiton, readers can buy a case at the special price of £150 per case (inc. VAT and delivery to the Cheltenham area).

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Franck Bonville is a family-owned house in the heart of the grands crus of Côtes de Blancs, the most highly valued vineyard sector in all Vintage Champagne, planted entirely to Chardonnay. Here, in the discreet courtyard of their cellars in Avize or among the great vine-covered bank of slopes running from south of the river Marne towards Vertus, one could be a world away from the huge industrial Vintage Champagne producers whose offices and cellars line the avenue de Vintage Champagne in Epernay.

At Franck Bonville the focus is on Vintage Champagne not as a sparkling commodity, but first and foremost as a fine wine in its own right to set alongside the grands crus of Chablis and white Burgundy, to be thought of as a domain-bottled rather than négociant product - a Vintage Champagne for real wine lovers.

The traditional style of Franck Bonville Vintage Champagnes gives a structure, reserve and weight on the palate unusual in modern blanc de blancs, making them superb food wines; for aperitif, the lighter three year old Brut Sélection is most suitable. Above all, they have excellent backbone of ripe acidity, particularly the Prestige and Vintage cuvées of great years, developing beautifully in creamy depth and complexity with age: nuances typically range from floral notes (may-blossom) and hazelnut, to buttery brioche, to citrus, apple and quince. Indeed these are wines of remarkable longevity, the seal of great quality: recently tasted, the 1976 and 1961 vintages were wonderfully fresh and complete, while the very ripe 1969 gave the impression of drinking old Meursault.