Clos de Goisses, Champagne Worth A Ten Year Wait?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jun 26th 2010 at 2:01PM

Champagne Philipponnat one of the major owners of Grand and Premier Cru vineyards in the region is releasing the 2000 vintage of its single vineyard, Clos de Goisses prestige cuvée. Clos des Goisses – a Grand Cru site – has a southern facing slope and 45° incline creating a lovely, warm sheltered spot to nurture grapes into perfect form. As the ripest vineyard in the region, it is able to produce a vintage almost every year, contrary to the Champagne norms of making vintages every three to four years.

The 2000 vintage is a blend of Pinot Noir (65%) and Chardonnay (35%) and can be aged up to 30 years. There is no malolactic fermentation and the 2000 vintage reflects the warmth of the year with bright, fruity nearly tropical flavors. Oak (just under 50%, no new oak) was partially used in the fermentation process for the first time at Philipponnat, to add complexity. The harvest was reduced to just 20,000 bottles out of a potential 55,000 bottles to cull out the best possible blend.

Why the wait for a 2000? Charles Philipponnat says: "we have always believed in long aging before release and prefer to keep our Clos de Goisses cuvée for 8 to 10 years to allow the wine to develop complexity without losing any freshness."

Champagne Philipponnat is distributed in the U.K. via Les Caves de Pyrène, and the 2000 Clos des Goisses will have an RRP of £125. In the U.S. it will be available at select locations including Zachys where it will sell for $155.

Tags: champagne, champagne philipponnat, chardonnay, france, pinot noir, sparkling wine, wine