Bonnet-Ponson

Since 1862, the family has been producing champagne in Chamery, with Grégoire Bonnet as one of the first récoltant-manipulant in the village. After him, Jules Bonnet extended the domain by buying more vineyards in Chamery and installing a 5500 kg wooden press powered by human strength, before electricity reached the village around 1902.

His son Raoul moved to another location in the village after the family winery was destroyed by bombing in World War II. He then began the construction of the current caves to store the small production of about 5000 bottles per year.

He was quickly joined by his son André, who at the age of 14 was ploughing the family vineyards with his two horses. In 1956, André Bonnet met Monique Ponson, who came from the family of a winegrower from Vrigny, another village in the Montagne de Reims.

With their union, André and Monique started the Bonnet- Ponson domain, cultivating several plots of Meunier and Pinot Noir in Chamery, Vrigny and Coulommes-la-Montagne. After a lifetime of hard work, the vineyard area was extended to 9 hectares, planted with the three grape varieties in equal parts.

In a constant quest for quality, André and Monique also increased the capacity of the cellars, digging new caves themselves in the sandy soil of Chamery to age their Champagne longer.

When their son Thierry took over the domain in 1979, all stages of Champagne production were already being carried out by the family and their 3 workers, including the bottling and disgorging ‘a la volée’ of the 70,000 bottles produced per year.

During 30 years, Thierry Bonnet continued the development of the domain by building new caves and adding an extra hectare to the vineyard, several new plots in the villages of Chamery, Vrigny and Verzenay. After studying oenology and working as a red wine producer in the south-west of France, Cyril Bonnet joined the family business in 2013, at the same time beginning the conversion of the entire vineyard to organic cultivation methods.