Emmanuel Brochet Le Mont Benoît Extra Brut is one of the most sought-after grower Champagnes from the Montagne de Reims, produced from Brochet's tiny 2.5-hectare Premier Cru vineyard at Villers-aux-Nœuds, just south-west of Reims. Emmanuel established his domaine in 1997 and farms essentially one contiguous hillside planted to Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with the oldest vines dating back to 1962. The vineyard has been farmed organically since the late 2000s, and production remains extremely small. Rather than aiming for a consistent house style through extensive blending, Le Mont Benoît is designed to express this single vineyard, making it much closer philosophically to a terroir-driven Burgundy than a conventional non-vintage Champagne.
Although labelled NV, individual releases are strongly shaped by their base vintage and reserve wines, so exact assemblage and dosage can vary. Recent releases have typically combined roughly one-third each of Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with very low Extra Brut dosage. The highly regarded 2019-base release, for example, was approximately 80% 2019 with 20% reserve wine and received 95 Points from Wine Advocate and 93 Points from Vinous. William Kelley described it as the finest rendition of Le Mont Benoît Brochet had produced at that point, emphasising its citrus, stone fruit, bread dough, beeswax, nutmeg and chalky concentration, with a drinking window extending to 2040. Later releases continue the same philosophy: the 2021-base version incorporates reserve wines from 2020 and 2019 and was disgorged in May 2024 with only 4 g/L dosage, showing green apple, chamomile, almond, electric acidity and a long chalky finish.
