Ponson Champagne

Recently, we had our friends over for oysters and Ponson Champagne. It is made from 100% Pinot Meunier. We loved the combination of oysters and Ponson. True to my MO, I went to the Ponson Website to learn more about the producers and the wine.
The six generations of Bonet-Ponson began with Grégoire Bonnet who was one of the first recoltant manipulants in the village of Chamery in 1862. Jules Bonnet extended the domain by purchasing more parcels in Chamery. Jules' son Raoul moved to another location in the village after the destruction of the family cellar during the bombing in the Second World War. Raoul then initiated the construction of the present day caves to store his small production of about 5000 bottles a year. Raoul was joined by his 14 year old son André, who was in charge of ploughing the family vines with his two horses. André Bonnet met and married Monique Ponson and started the domain Bonnet-Ponson, growing a few plots of Meunier and Pinot noir in Chamery, Vrigny and Coulommes la Montagne. When their son Thierry joined the domain in 1979, all the steps of champagne making were being processed by the family and their 3 workers. At that time, they were bottling and disgorging 70 000 bottles produced per year. In 2013, Cyril Bonnet joined the family domain and in that year they began the conversion of their vineyard to the organic method of cultivation.

The Bonet-Ponsons farm 10,5 hectares of vineyards planted with 3,80 hectares of Pinot noir, 3,30 hectares of Pinot Meunier, 3,20 hectares of Chardonnay and 0,20 hectares of Petit Meslier, first planted in 2016.
Most of their Pinot Meunier vines grows on the lower part of the hills of Chamery and Vrigny, on sandy or clay loamy soil. The fossil shells found in Chamery attest to the presence of the sea in this region thirty-five million years ago.
Most of their wines do not go through any filtration or finning process. Their clarification occurs naturally during the winter when the cellar temperature drops. The wines stay on their lies for a minimum of 7 months before bottling, building up their structure and refining their taste.
References:
1. Ponson Website