The Bonvilles didn’t always enjoy the sturdy reputation of a top Champagne house that they enjoy today. The house’s founder, Alfred Bonville, risked the entirety of the family’s meager fortune when he began buying up plots of formerly pristine vineyard land after it had become devastated by the phylloxera blight – much to the horror of relatives and neighbors alike . From the family base in Oger, he carefully managed their re-planting and upkeep – building a standing for quality grapes. Just as his risky venture was starting to pay dividends, he made another huge gamble. On the heels of The Great Depression, he went all in on purchasing a winegrower’s house in the heart of Avize, complete with press, casks, and a cellar from the 1800s. His risk paid off yet again, and the foundations of the family as it stands today were cemented in that consequential decision.

Today, generations after Alfred’s wagers, Olivier Bonville and his stepson, Ferdinand Ruelle are forging their own path. Though their day-job is running the Franck Bonneville house, a few years back they started a new project with a rather ambitious model. Enter: Champagne Odyssee 319. Like Odysseyus of old, Olivier and Ferdinand planned to set off on a journey through the many villages of the Champagne appellation. They started with their home plots in Avize and are on a quest to make wine from every other Champagne village in the years and decades to come. Each year, they’ll make a home base Champagne from their Grand Cru vineyards in the Côte des Blancs, with a couple of experimental projects from various villages spread across Champagne.

This is a 100% chardonnay from the home plots in Avize, and one that sings its siren song with an entrancing melody of oyster shells, salty sea spray, and crushed rocks. Bright notes of golden apples, orange cream, and Mirabelle plums carry the mid-palate, to be accented by ginger snaps, lemon verbena, white sage, and toasty brioche on the vivacious and tingly finish. It’s got a generous 8.3 grams per liter or dosage, which gives the wine a balanced yet intriguing interplay of ripe fruit flavors and zippy, crunchy minerality, somewhat akin to Chablis in a warmer-than-average vintage. But of course, this has bubbles(!) making it automatically and inherently superior! I’d suggest you not turn a blinded Cyclops eye to this deal and get ready to add this epic wine to your collection (or restock from before, like me!). Now is the time to dive deep into a well-deserved 96 point Last Bubbles favorite!