Winegrower Avize Champagne Bonville
a jewel in the Côte des Blancs
15 hectares of vines among the Grands Crus of the Côte des Blancs:
the Champagne Franck Bonville is onto a sure thing.
Simplicity, authenticity and rigour compose the motto of this family of wine growers who work in the respect of tradition and do not stop investing to maintain their demands of quality. Olivier Bonville works delicately without fuss.
“We have the unbelievable chance to be on an exceptional terroir. We have to let it express while choosing to keep a perfect sanitary state at every stage of the winemaking” he explains.
Trained as an oenologist, in 1996 he took over the reins of the family estate created in the early 20th century by his great-grandfather Alfred Bonville, a vineyard-worker for the Champagne House Veuve Clicquot. Built up with patience and few means in the beginning, it now totals 15 hectares, all located in the prestigious Côte des Blancs.
“I lean on this terroir to reveal the typicity of our wines. It is made of minerality, fineness and complexity” the winemaker comments.
Each generation added its own touch in the development of the estate and the winemaking of the House which took off in 1930 with the purchase of new plots then of new buildings, in 1936, in the heart of the village, to start pressing and vinifying in total independence. This period coincides with the arrival, beside the founder, of Franck Bonville, Olivier's grandfather.
“He marketed his first bottles after the war. He had a passion for the vine and never stopped investing to develop the family heritage”. From 3 hectares at the end of the Second World War, the vineyard grows up to 9 hectares in the 70s.
Gilles and Ingrid, Olivier's parents, carry on the investments in Champagne, modernize the production tool and diversify in the Bordeaux region. They also attempt to develop private customers, mainly in France but also in Germany and some other bordering countries.
Olivier Bonville succeeded his parents after having worked at their side for nearly 5 years.
New export markets
Champagne Franck Bonville is one of the Champagne's jewels. Olivier converted into reasoned farming a bit more than two years ago.
“My objective is to get an upright and pure raw material. We harvest when maturity enables to preserve acidity and we pick the grape when not too ripe, for a potential alcohol content between 9 and 10.5°. A choice that allows us to keep a maximum freshness and elegance in our future cuvées.”Since 2000, the house vinifies in oak barrels an 80-year-old plot called “Les Belles Voyes” after the old French “la belle voie”—the nice path—: a country lane between the village of Oger and that of Mesnil-sur-Oger. This non-vintage cuvée is made in
6-year (for the oldest) barrels from Burgundy.
“We have 33. They give a nice aromatic range and we keep the 15 best”Olivier comments. He is very attached, for the whole range, to the ageing time to which lends itself so well the Chardonnay.
“We have a 6-years stock which enables to let the wines mature at least 3 years for our youngest cuvée. Our ambition is to do our work with a lot of care. We try our best to carry out traditional vinification. Giving many room to… time.”In total the Champagne Franck Bonville markets 150,000 bottles per year of which 80,000 in export, traditionally in Europe. But new markets are developing in California, Japan and also in Norway, Sweden and Australia.
The House has been selected in November 2010 for the Nobel Prize dinner in Stockholm and is regularly awarded in the numerous national and international contests it participates in.
Jean Batilliet
Champagne Franck Bonville
9 rue Pasteur - 51190 AVIZE
Tél. : +33 (0)3 26 57 52 30
Fax: +33 (0)3 26 57 59 90
www.champagne-franck-bonville.com
