Description
Champagne Paul Launois, “Monochrome #1” Blanc de Blancs
Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. That’s all I really need to say. This Grand Cru village in Champagne’s Côte des Blancs region produces some of the most prized Chardonnay in the world. Yes, there’s one specific label that sucks all the oxygen out of the room (and all the money from your wallet), but lurking in the shadows are artisan-scale geniuses like Paul Launois, who farms a hillside plot of vines that overlook Krug’s “Clos du Mesnil” and fuels today’s electrifying “Monochrome #1.”
Even before the global supply chain had its COVID-accelerated meltdown, it was not easy to offer wines from Champagne Launois, but we’ve managed it: Absurdly delicious, and shockingly affordable, grower Champagne is our stock in trade. And, within the grower-producer universe, it doesn’t get more “boutique” than Julien Launois, who farms the primest of prime real estate in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and crafts each bottle by hand. When you examine the specs on this bottling, of which only 400 cases are produced, it’s impossible not to be (a) deeply impressed and (b) shocked it isn’t way more expensive. Then you taste it, and you’re knocked back on your heels by its crystalline purity, high-toned aromas, and chiseled minerality, and the disconnect only grows. This is one to pounce on, and we can offer up to six bottles per person. Get in line behind me! (Just kidding, you can go first…)
Three generations of the Launois family have tended 6.5 hectares of prime vineyards in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. In the past, the family sold their grapes to the local cooperative, but current proprietor Julien Launois, who works alongside his wife, Sarah, was the one who decided to become a producer as well as a grower—a récoltant-manipulant (RM). In 2013, he and Sarah purchased a cellar from legendary Champagne house Billecart-Salmon in which to vinify and age their wines. This monumental undertaking can make or break a business, but Julien felt it was a necessary step to have total control from start to finish. Something else to keep on your radar: they have recently launched a “single barrel” concept (the first in Champagne) where customers can buy a specific barrel of Grand Cru Chardonnay and tell Julien how they want it made—from barrel toasting to aging to dosage.
“Monochrome #1” is 100% Chardonnay sourced from Launois plots that overlook the famed “Clos du Mesnil” vineyard in the Grand Cru village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. The hand-harvested fruit undergoes a long, slow fermentation in stainless steel over 10 weeks, during which time it goes through malolactic fermentation. It then ages on lees in bottle for at least 24 months and, over the course of the final four weeks, Julien himself hand turns every bottle—each one averages 25 total turns—before disgorgement. This is also painstakingly done by hand, or “à la volée,” an old-school approach that only a few producers still practice. You can see Julien tackling one in the attached video—keep in mind this is done for every single bottle!
For “Monochrome #1,” Julien chooses a barely-there dosage of two grams of sugar/liter, resulting in an invigorating, diamond-cut style of blanc de blancs. The wine displays a brilliant straw-yellow core moving to a platinum rim, with an assertively chalky and floral aromatic profile. Notes of white flowers, cream, honeysuckle, green apples, white mushrooms, lemon verbena, and fresh-cut Bosc pear carry over to the focused, softly contoured, deeply mineral palate. Whenever I taste a wine like this I think of the concept of kinetic energy: that the wine has this kind of spring-loaded tension to it. My mouth is watering just thinking about it, so there’s nothing left for us to do but get some in a glass (not a flute) as soon as possible. Serve it at 45-50 degrees with a fancy accompaniment like blinis and caviar, or some breaded and broiled oysters. That, my friends, is living. Enjoy!
