1996 Gonet Sulkova Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Mesnil-sur-Oger

1996.  That’s all you need to know.  My advice:  buy anything Champagne that says 1996 on it.  In my view, it’s one of the greatest vintages of the century and one of the greatest vintages of any region like 1998 Australia and 1982 Bordeaux.  I drank a bottle of 1996 Salon for my wife’s birthday this year and it was not only the best Champagne I’d ever had, but one of the best wines I’d ever had.  I had not heard of Gonet Sulkova until I met Cedric and Karla.  Karla’s dad is from Champagne and her mom is from Eastern Europe. The street the estate is on looks like any other in Epernay in a residential neighborhood.   The driveway nondescript.  BUt when the gates open, it’s like Sleeping Beauty’s castle, like a Champagne Wonderland, complete with five levels or stories of cellars that go underground.  The grapes for this 1996 Champagne come from Mesnil-sur-Oger, which Champagne lovers know and worship and where indeed the grapes for Champagnes you have heard of come from like Salon and Krug. That’s right, bitch, Karla’s parents own vineyards in Mesnil-sur-Oger.