Founded in Aÿ in 1584 by Pierre Gosset, Champagne Gosset is the oldest wine house in Champagne. For more than four centuries, the preservation of style, elegance and family traditions in the making of Gosset champagne has been paramount. Champagne Gosset’s reputation for high-quality starts in the vineyard, where they source grapes almost entirely from premier cru and grand cru vineyards. Unlike most champagne producers, Gosset carefully avoids malolactic fermentation and uses extended lees aging to expose the terroir and produce dynamic, age-worthy cuvées. Gosset champagnes are made with extreme care and kept in dark cellars for four to five years for non-vintage wines — and up to seven for vintage champagnes and 10 for the CELEBRIS cuvées — before release.
Founded in Aÿ in 1584 by Pierre Gosset, Champagne Gosset is the oldest wine house in Champagne. Over the next four centuries, generations of the Gosset family would go on to win fame not only as alderman, mayors and magistrates in Aÿ, but also in growing and trading wines of Champagne. Whatever the period, the men and women of the Gosset family had a single ambition — to improve their terroir.
In 1993, after more than 400 years of family ownership, Champagne Gosset was purchased by the Renaud-Cointreau family, who also owns and manages the highly regarded Cognac Frapin. The Renaud-Cointreaus insist on a continuity of the old-style champagne appropriate to its historic birthplace in Aÿ. While other Champagne houses are handing over the reins to large corporations, the Renaud-Cointreau family understands the importance of preserving the heritage in winemaking that has, over 430 years, made Champagne Gosset the ultimate name in champagne.
In 2009, Champagne Gosset announced the acquisition of a new property in the heart of Epernay, which doubles the cellar space and serves as an extension to its production facilities in Aÿ.
Champagne Gosset’s reputation for quality starts in the vineyard, where it sources grapes almost entirely from premier cru and grand cru vineyards in the Côte des Blancs, Grand Vallée de la Marne and Montagne de Reims. These vineyards rate an average of 95 percent on the “échelle des crus,” or “ladder of growths,” — the classification system of the villages in the Champagne region. The top-rated villages are given a score of 100 percent and are called grand crus; currently there are 17 such villages. The next tier has scores ranging from 90 to 99 percent; these are the premier cru villages, of which there are 44. The remaining 296 crus have scores between 80 and 89 percent.
Champagne Gosset has long-term relationships with growers that date back several generations, allowing the winemaking team to direct activity in the vineyards.
Champagne Gosset’s style is based on a philosophy that aims to utilize all the grapes and terroir have to offer and to minimize other inputs. For example, unlike most champagne producers, Gosset carefully avoids malolactic fermentation, thus preserving the malic acid present in the grapes.
Champagne Gosset keeps all grower lots separate until it is time to blend the cuvées and vinification temperatures are managed carefully to preserve delicate aromatics.
During assemblage, all the lots are tasted blind – there are no recipes with Champagne Gosset. Similarly, dosage for each lot is selected during blind trials. Gosset champagnes are made with extreme care and kept in dark cellars for at least three years — and up to seven for vintage champagnes and 10 for the CELEBRIS cuvées — before release. Extended lees aging is another hallmark of Champagne Gosset.
Gosset’s inimitable style — pure, precise, elegant and textured, with remarkable longevity — has changed little over the centuries. Once a favorite of the kings and queens of France, Champagne Gosset remains one of the most illustrious and prestigious producers, considered by many collectors and connoisseurs as the world’s preeminent luxury champagne.
59% Pinot Noir, 41% Chardonnay
An extremely fine and grouped effervescence. The dress is crystalline, luminous, and slightly golden. The nose is fruity, fresh, and tangy. Both greedy and elegant, it expresses pastry notes and aromas of fresh fruit: nougat, frangipane, candied orange, and mirabelle plum. A delicate note of passe-crassane pear carrying a touch of Williams pear liqueur can be guessed. A tonic wine, with a nice tension around the aromas of fresh fruits. Nectarine, yellow peach, and a tangy note of rhubarb develop in the mouth. The end of the mouth is clean, frank, saline, and mineral leaving a touch of bitterness and verbena.
Review:
Having retained all its youthful acidity because there was no malolactic fermentation, the Champagne is brilliantly lit. Acidity and a light texture from the Pinot Noir in the blend give the wine a crisp edge with still-young citrus.
-Wine Enthusiast 94 Points
A firm, focused version, this swathes a chiseled spine of acidity in a raw, silky texture and finely meshed flavors of yellow peach, orange liqueur, honeycomb and chopped almond. A rich streak of salinity drives the well-cut, spiced finish. Drink now through 2035.
-Wine Spectator 94 Points
The aging is as Mounir ages his Burgundies: extremely long, never racked, no fining, no filtration. It would be easy to say that we expected the experience running one of Burgundy’s leading producers, Lucien Le Moine, would show in Mounir’s wines. But the actual results need to be tasted to be believed and understood: a wine with beguiling fruit and savory richness, yet extraordinary finesse and detail.
Mounir Saouma likes to describe Châteauneuf-du-Pape as a mosaic, with all the wild traditions and differences together making for very different interpretations. Omnia, Latin for “all,” is his attempt to encompass the entire region’s terroir and winemaking history (and perhaps future) in one glass. The fruit comes from 9 vineyard parcels across all 5 of the Châteauneuf communes, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Courthezon, Sorgues, Bedarrides and Orange (in early vintages, when the Saoumas did not have all the vineyards they have today, they would purchase fruit; today, Rotem & Mounir Saouma is 100% Estate). The wine is then vinified and aged in foudres, cement and 500 liter barrels – a little bit of everything.
2019 was another warm and dry vintage in the southern Rhône, marked by insistent drought and repeated heat waves during the season. With little disease pressure or frost, the crop was close to normal size, but bunch and berry-size was reduced during the growing season by the lack of water. The grapes were thus concentrated and rich in sugar and acidity, although potential alcohol levels were often quite high. Vineyards at higher elevations – Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas in particular — handled the heat better, and the wines from those AOPs are rich yet also remarkably fresh and energetic. Despite the initial concerns about the growing season, 2019 looks to be a watershed vintage in the Southern Rhône, producing rich wines with exceptional concentration and aging potential
Inviting aromas of sliced strawberries, red cherries and rose. Full-bodied with vibrant acidity and succulent fruit. Fine, structured tannins are vertically aligned with the fruit. More dark-fruited than the nose lets on and entirely delicious. I love the subtle spice here.
-James Suckling 94 Points
Very refined, with silky and fine-grained structure carrying alluring bergamot, rooibos tea, incense, dried cherry and lightly mulled raspberry notes along. A long sanguine thread weaves through the finish. Hard to resist now with so much charm, but this will benefit from cellaring. Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre.
-Wine Spectator 94 Points