2015 Gosset, Grand Millesime

Now showing its full expressive potential this Pinot Noir-based 2015 shines with its vibrant plum, redcurrant and green apple notes. Chamomile, linden, hay and dry apple peel top an unctuous layer of almond croissant, frangipane and apple strudel. Vibrant with creamy, persistent mousse and a robust acid backbone. Long, moreish finish.

Composed of 59% Pinot Noir and the rest Chardonnay, the 2015 Grand Millésime Brut is vibrant and ripe with fresh bread dough, grapefruit, and white flowers. It is pure on the palate, with ripe, crystalline pear and a beautifully clean stony texture. It will benefit from another couple of years in cellar and drink well 2024-2040. The oldest wine house in Champagne, established by Pierre Gosset in 1584 in Ay, Gosset was purchased by Reynaud-Cointreau in 1993. Today the chef de cave is Odilon de Varine, formerly of Deutz and Henriot, and the philosophy is to adapt to each year and not to get stuck in the past. Each of the growers’ plots are fermented separately and malolactic fermentation is entirely blocked, working with the lees to create roundness in the wines instead. The house has gradually shifted from being predominantly a Pinot Noir house to that of Chardonnay. Total annual production is approximately 1 million bottles though they have the capacity to produce 1.5 million. They hold a considerable stock of reserve wine going back 60 years, alleviating the pressures to put out more quantity. The 2008 bottlings of Celebris tasted here represent only the eighth release of that cuvée.

The 2015 Brut Grand Millésime offers up notes of white flowers, citrus zest, crisp green apple and subtle hints of cut grass, followed by a medium to full-bodied, rich but vibrant palate with a somewhat firm, phenolic finish. There's plenty of structure and substance here, but the wine is rather compact out of the gates, to the extent that this appears to be one of the weaker efforts among recent releases from Gosset.

Full bottle 1,811 g. Roughly half each Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Heavy bottle, even for champagne. Rich, creamy; stone-cut-oats porridge with lavish latherings of butter, clotted cream and honey. The fruit is dense, ripe, peaches, golden melon; but the wine holds a firm line with masses of texture and those broad shoulders have regal bearing. Mouth-filling, concentrated and substantial. The perfect wine for coquilles St-Jacques, I'd say. (TC)