Les Mesnil-sur-Oger is the most revered of the Grand Cru Vineyards in Champagne. In the mind of many, it occupies a place among the great Grand Crus of the Côte de Beaune as a producer of the greatest that Chardonnay can offer. Two of the greatest, and most expensive, Champagnes made hale from Les Mesnil-sur-Oger are Krug Clos de Mesnil and Salon, where the deep chalk subsoil is well drained, and has a high active lime content which promotes acidity in the grapes.
Founded in 1889 by Pierre Moncuit along with his wife Odile Moncuit-Delos, the Domaine has always been based around Chardonnay from Les Mesnil-sur-Oger. Nicole and Yves Moncuit have run the family domaine since 1977, and own between 
15 and 25 hectares of vines (the sources don’t agree), with an average age of 30 years of age, and some that are as old as 90 years, in Les Mesnil-sur-Oger as well as a small vineyard in the Côte de Sezanne which goes into a separate cuvée called Hugues de Coulmet Blanc de Blancs. Nicole handles the vineyard management and winemaking, while Yves manages the commercial side of the business.
This was one of the first grower-producer, or RM (referring the abbreviation for “recoltant-manipulant” that forms the first two letters of the control number that lies in small print on the side of each bottle of Champagne), Champagnes that I ever tried: they were much less common in the United States even ten years ago. Believing that this was a fair representation of the quality of all RM Champagnes, I immediately declared that the days of the large Champagne houses were over. This was, of course an overlarge generalization, gleaned from a non-representative example (Perhaps I should have been a politician). In truth, Moncuit is one of the best Champagne Houses around, whether they grow their own grapes or not. And the wines represent a phenomenal value, because they don’t have the billion dollar marketing budget that the likes of Veuve-Clicquot pass on to their customers.
Nicole also has one particularly peculiar winemaking habit, that rubs a few reviewers the wrong way: even though most of the wines are labeled as such, she doesn’t make any truly non-vintage wines, they are almost invariably from a single vintage. She does this because it allows her to release some of the wines earlier (the minimum time on tirage for non-vintage Champagne is 15 months, as opposed to 36 months for vintage wines). This means that her non-vintage cuvees show more variation than some, because she doesn’t blend in reserve wines. That said, it’s not that much variation, and with wines this good, who cares! This wine is made up of 100% Chardonnay from Les Mesnil-sur-Oger from the 2002 vintage.
The palate offers a masterful combination of chalky acidity, and rich citrus, tree and tropical fruits, with underlying biscuit, toasty and buttery aromas and flavors. A really, really profound, and pretty powerful Champagne. Try this with just about anything, but it’s especially good with a piece of Halibut or Champagne that just came off the grill, or with anything that contains wild mushrooms. If you’re serving cheese with this, try something that is very ripe, and has plenty of salt, whether it is hard or soft. Drink now – 2015.
