Gosset Grand Millesime 2015 In Gift Box (75cl)

Tasting Notes:

A wonderfully fresh and expressive first impression reveals pear and peach which develops into notes of grapefruit, aniseed and liquorice.

 

The finely poised, full-bodied palate remains incredibly light, with every sip revealing notes of damson and Mirabelle plum followed by orange and pink grapefruit.

 

Sustained by a bold liveliness, the wine finishes satisfyingly with just a hint of salinity.

 

Pairing with food:

Can be enjoyed as an aperitif or all over the meal. It's an ideal pairing with sea or freshwater fish (John Dory, sea-bream, pickeperch etc.) and small game birds or white meat. 

 

Fresh or slightly matured goat's cheese is also an ideal accompaniment with this vintage.

 

Grape Variety:

Grand Millesime 2012 is a blend of 67% Chardonnay and 33% Pinot Noir.

 

Maturation time 60 months before disgorging

 

Dosage is 8 g/l to maintain balance without masking the wine's personality.

 

The wine has been vinified and aged on lees with malolactic fermentation avoided, as per Gosset's house style.

 

This preserves the fruit aromas of the wine while allowing the wines to undergo longer ageing (5 years on lees).

 

Vintage 2012:

Difficult conditions to begin with; some very low temperatures in winter and an early budding, with all sort of climatic issues and lot of rain during Spring.

 

There was a sudden change in mid-July with dry and warm conditions until end August and cooler weather for harvest.

 

A difficult vintage for the nerves but beautiful in the end: bright, lively, dynamic.

 

The Chardonnay shows exceptional character with great structure and depth while the Pinot Noir is more shy but complements the Chardonnay nicely with layers and flesh. 

 

Background Information:

Champagne Gosset is the oldest wine house in Champagne established in Ay in 1584 and is owned by the Cointreau family. The Cointreaus also own Gosset's sister company, Cognac Frapin, and Jean Pierre is currently C.E.O of both companies. They bought Gosset in 1993 when Albert Gosset of the original Gosset family died. The Cointreaus hold strong the belief that Gosset is a family run business and maintain the hands on approach that was started by the original Gosset family.

 

Situated in the tiny Grand Cru village of Ay, 5 kilometres north of Epernay, Gosset has some rather famous neighbours, including Bollinger. However, production is much below that of the larger houses and would struggle to reach the number of bottles produced by Krug in a year. Yearly production has now reached almost 1.3 million bottles. All Gosset champagnes are 'recently disgorged' and the house does not undertake malolactic fermentation. This preserves acidity which in turn keeps the wine fresh for much longer. Bottles are removed from one part of the cellar to another every six months, and given a vigorous shake in the process. This reinvigorates any live yeast and is only carried out by a few houses.

 

The Gosset style is very creamy, dry but not acidic, full, biscuity and yeasty. All the cuvees have good bottle age. The champagnes are excellent by themselves or with food.