Champagne Paul Launois Blanc de Blancs Monochrome Extra Brut Grand Cru NV

Le Mesnil – in the hands of one of Champagne’s most exciting new grower-producers, Paul Launois! Grand Cru fruit, all chardonnay, from perhaps our favorite vineyard in Champagne – there’s just so much to love about this offer!

The Launois’ family holdings go back over three generations, high up on the elevated slopes adjacent to the revered ‘Clos de Mesnil’ parcels where both Krug and Salon’s $1000+ bottles are born. With neighbors like that...this price is unreal!! Regardless of geography, Paul Launois’s Monochrome (unofficially dubbed Monochrome #5, as this is the fifth iteration of the wine under the Paul Lanois name) is an absolute gem of top-notch grower champagne that is sure to enjoy a meteoric rise to rival the likes of Egly-Ouriet...just wait and see.

But don’t wait too long, as the rare wine has a production of only about 400 cases per year, and very little makes it out here to First Bottle HQ. This is a compelling Blanc de Blancs with a very low 1 g/L dosage, resulting in aromas of lemon and lime peels with a mineral-y, salty, zippy backbone. A whiff of white peonies and star jasmine add elegance and a softening presence, followed by a warm, spicy finish speckled with grapefruits, stone fruits, and crushed oyster shells, bringing it all to a luxurious and complex resolution. Monochrome #5 is based on the 2019 vintage, accounting for 70% of the cepage, with the final 30% coming from aged reserve wine. After 9 months elevage in barrels and stainless steel, the wine rests for 24 months on the lees, before being disgorged in the “à la volée” style and finished with its extra brut level dosage of just one gram per liter.

While these pristine 6.5 hectares in the heart of Le Mesnil have been lovingly tended by the Launois family for generations, in just the past seven years, Julien and Sarah Launois have kept the fruit from the family’s parcels to make their own wines. Delicately hand-crafted and supremely luxurious Grand Cru Champagne made in homage to their infant son, Paul. Now with a wine-making facility (and agro-tourism business) in the village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, the Launois family crafts three compelling cuvées, all hand-crafted, riddled, and disgorged traditionally. This is something that is sure to vanish quickly and should be an absolute must for any Champagne lover. The quality for value is as high as you will find anywhere in Champagne.