Emmanuel Brochet Le Mont Benoit
Over the past several months I’ve opened four or five bottles and every single one has been absolutely thrilling. I confess, I’ve been a little late to the party on Emmanuel Brochet, but I’m making up for lost time.
The challenge with these wines is simply getting your hands on them. They are truly handcrafted in tiny quantities and I grab whatever I can, often only six to twelve bottles at a time. A couple of weeks ago I offered his Rosé L’Assemblage (production: just 5,133 bottles). This rosé is made from 100% Pinot Meunier sourced from a neighboring grower who farms to the same exacting organic standards.
Today I’m excited to share the flagship wine of the Brochet lineup — Le Mont Benoit. This single-vineyard cuvée blends Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier, with a total production of about 12,000 bottles. The current release is based on the 2021 vintage and includes 40% reserve wine from 2020 and 2019. The style is all about precision, purity, and energy. It reminds me of drinking great white Burgundy. There is a richness you feel but it is never something that weighs on your palate. The flavors coat your mid-palate and seem to ooze into the side of your jaw, finishing with a lip-smacking flavor that lingers long after the last sip.
These wines are not inexpensive, but for collectors who want the best of the best, they are absolutely worth pursuing. Both the Rosé and Le Mont Benoit are stunning—true benchmarks for artisanal Champagne. They come with my highest recommendation.
Emmanuel Brochet’s NV Le Mont Benoit (2021 base), which includes 40% reserve wines from 2020 and 2019, was disgorged in May 2024 with a dosage of four grams per liter—slightly higher than usual. He notes that this modest adjustment was necessitated by the incisive profile of the base vintage. The wine unfurls from the glass with aromas of green apple, chamomile and peeled almond. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied, chiseled, bright and laden with electric acidity, culminating in a long, chalky finish marked by a distinctive bitterness. Stylistically, this bottling slightly diverges from recent iterations shaped by a string of warm vintages, but qualitatively speaking, it is unmistakably the same superb cuvĂ©e. While Brochet himself expresses a degree of dissatisfaction due to its higher malic acid, such critique speaks to the standards of a perfectionist. This rendition, in all likelihood, will age beautifully over the coming years.Â
- Wine Advocate / Kristaps Karklins, 95
The NV RosĂ© d'Assemblage (2021 base) was produced from organically farmed, old-vine Pinot Meunier—massal selections planted in 1965 in the lieu-dit La Motelle, located just a few hundred meters from Brochet’s estate in Villers-aux-NĹ“uds. Though the supplier harvests the grapes himself, pressing and vinification occur at Brochet’s facility. Disgorged in January 2024 with a dosage of two grams per liter, the blend is composed of 90% 2021 vinified as blanc de noirs, married with 10% red wine and a lightly macerated rosĂ© from the 2020 vintage. It bursts from the glass with an intense aromatic profile: pomegranate, redcurrant and blood orange mingling with notes of spice and rose petals. Brochet previously produced a RosĂ© de SaignĂ©e but has since transitioned to assemblage—a method he believes yields greater freshness, elegance and equilibrium. On the palate, the wine is medium- to full-bodied and has a lighter, more graceful structure than prior renditions, which in comparison now seem more gastronomic and robust. Shaped by the cool 2021 growing season, this cuvĂ©e is bright and precise, with mouthwatering acidity and a long, mineral finish. Â
- Wine Advocate/Kristaps Karklins, 94
