Champagne Gosset
Visiting the Champagne
region, part 6: the region's oldest winery

Gosset march to a slightly different beat to many of the other Champagne
houses. I wanted to visit them because I had long admired their
wines, with their linear precision.

Their main claim to fame? Gosset is the oldest wine producer in the
Champagne region, dating back to 1584. However, they are not the
oldest Champagne house, though: that title is claimed by Ruinart
(1729).


For 17 generations Gosset was family owned, but in 1993 it was sold to
the Cointreau family from Charente, owners of Frappin Cognac. The
Gosset cellars then moved to Epernay from Aÿ back in 2009, and they
now use their previous cellars for ageing and disgorgement.


Production here is a million bottles annually, so this is not a big
house, nor is it a small one. This critical size gives them access
to a diversity of terroirs (they work with a tight network of
growers).

No oak is used here, but they do have a lot of stainless steel vats for
the size of the operation. No malolactic fermentation takes place
here and they don't need to move the wine around too much.

One of the developments that Gosset are pioneering is working with age in
years (much like whisky producers do), rather than just vintage and
NV. This is a clever concept.
Champagne Gosset Grand Rose Brut NV Half and half Pinot Noir and
Chardonnay, with 6% red wine to give colour. 2010 base with some
2011 and some 2009, 3.5 years on lees. Pale salmon pink in colour.
Fresh and lively with nice purity. Some citrus, with a bit of red
cherry fruit and some grip. This is a pure, pretty wine that's quite
dry in character with a savoury edge. 90/100

Champagne Gosset Grande Reserve NV This is one of the two main NV
cuvees, along with Brut Excellence, the 'face of Gosset'. It's 2010
base, with some of the neighbouring vintages in the mix, disgorged
2015, a blend of 40% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir and 20% Pinot
Meunier, with 8 g/l dosage. Lively and fresh with cherry and citrus,
together with some pear richness. Nice balance between the fruity
roundness and the citrussy tension. 91/100

Champagne Gosset Grand Blanc de Blancs NV A blend of 2010 and 2011.
Very lively and focused with real precision. Fresh, lemony and
intense with a lovely pure lemony character and a bit of roundness,
but also high acidity. There's a lovely tension here. Very fresh and
precise. 93/100
Champagne Gosset Brut 15 Ans de Cave a Minima The winemaker at the
time in the 1990s made a blend of years to see how they'd develop,
and laid them down. These were recently pulled out and disgorged and
they were really good, and so the concept of doing a whisky-like
aged product was devised. This wine was bottled in 1999, and it's
Chardonnay dominated. Intense, concentrated and lively with high
acidity. There's some chalky, grainy savouriness as well as powerful
lemony fruit, with hints of nuts and apples. Very dry and acidic,
and really distinctive. 93/100
VISITING CHAMPAGNE
Part
1, JL Vergnon
Part
2, Bruno Paillard
Part
3, Anselme Selosse
Part
4, Pierre Péters
Part
5, Ulysse Collin
Part
6, Gosset
Part
7, De Sousa
Wines
tasted 04/16
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