The Les Mussettes 2020 cuvée from Girard Bonnet is a single-plot champagne. It speaks for the terroirs of the region through this historic corner of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.
Here, the deep colluvial soil (earth washed down the slope and built up at depth) gives the grapes a slow, steady ripening, which translates into a delicate yet profound aromatic character. The roots stay in constant contact with the chalk, lending the wine a striking salinity on the palate.
This is a cuvée that speaks of citrus, white fruit and a touch of white blossom, with a poised, tensile texture. Serve it from the aperitif onwards, with Fine de Claire oysters for instance, then bring it back to the table alongside turbot with sauce mousseline.
The Terroir
Les Mussettes 2020 is a Blanc de Blancs, which means it is made exclusively from Chardonnay. The grapes come from the terroir of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, a village classified Grand Cru on the Côte des Blancs, where Girard Bonnet tends its vines.
Grand Cru status places Le Mesnil-sur-Oger at the very top of the échelle des crus, the classification that ranks the villages of Champagne. The Côte des Blancs, named for the white grapes grown there, is the sole source here: one village, one terroir, with no blending of origins. This cuvée therefore offers a precise reading of the terroir itself.
On this terroir, Chardonnay brings finesse and tension to the wine.
The Winemaking
Paul Girard, winemaker at Girard Bonnet, chose stainless steel tank to ferment this 2020 Chardonnay. This neutral vessel adds no oak character and allows a clean, pure fruit, direct and precise, to come through. He then allowed malolactic fermentation to run its full course (the conversion of a sharp acid, that of green apples, into a softer one, that of milk). The acidity rounds out and the wine gains a silky quality.
The dosage (the small addition of sweetened liqueur made just before the bottle is finally sealed) is 2 g/L, which places the cuvée in the Extra Brut category. This low dosage preserves the wine's tension while softening its edges. The sediment formed in bottle was removed by disgorgement in November 2025.
The 2020 Vintage
In Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, 2020 was defined by dryness: the vines were short of water from spring onwards, July stayed free of rain and August was very dry. This hydric stress (the water shortage the vine endures) thinned the canopy and pushed the Chardonnay to concentrate its energy in the bunches. The dry weather also kept rot at bay: the grapes reached the harvest exceptionally healthy, with nothing to mask. For a cuvée born of a single Grand Cru, the year lets the terroir speak without artifice. The wine keeps a clean, pure fruit and a concentrated texture, the hallmarks of a vintage of great purity.
