PRESS
GONET-MÉDEVILLE
Blanc de Noirs Brut 1er Cru NV
| Grapes | Pinot Noir |
| Colour | White |
| Origin | France, Champagne |
| Classification | 1er Cru |
| ABV | 12.5% |
100% Pinot Noir, 90% being from Bisseuil, and 10% from Ambonnay. Ripe grapes means that this wine has quite a deep colour, almost oeuil-de-perdrix. Very fine and persistent bubble, full-flavoured with good acidity to give it 'peps'. Gorgeous. L&S (Jul 2018)
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*Case price discount: Mix any 12 bottles of wine (or 9 litre equivalent) or 6 bottles of Champagne, Spirits, Sweet Wine or Fortified (4.5 litres) to get the discounted 'case price' for each bottle.
100% Pinot Noir from vineyards on chalk across 3 ha of Bisseuil (90%) and Ambonnay (10%). 30% is vinified in stainless steel and the rest in old casks. Bottled seven months after harvest and sur lattes for 36 months. Dosage 5 g/l. 30,000 bottles.
Very slight tinge of pink from the maceration. Rose petals on the nose. Quite sweet fruit: nectarines. But also a lovely soupçon of earthiness and nutmeg. Full-bodied and generous fruit, but also emphatic with structural muscle. More wine than sparkling wine. The bubbles simply lift the spice through the fruit. Drinking range: 2023 - 2028 Rating: 17 Tamlyn Currin - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jun 2023)
100% pinot noir; 90% Bisseuil, 10% Ambonnay; 2019 base vintage; bottled April 2020; disgorged January 2023; 5g/L dosage - all on back label; 30,000 bottles.
Such is the blush tint of this blanc de noirs that it renders the hue a pale salmon copper of rosé proportions. It well captures the elegance of Bisseuil and the fruity style of the 2019 harvest in a pretty profile of pink grapefruit, strawberry hull and nashi pear. It's young, precocious and tangy, with lively acidity and fine chalk minerality portrayed with transparent detail and perfectly supported with low dosage.
Primary, short and simple it may be, but to its credit it doesn't try to be anything more than this, and it's all the better for it. An elegant apéritif to serve as you would a rosé. Tasted in 2023 Rating: 91 Tyson Stelzer - The Champagne Guide (Jul 2024)
100% Pinot Noir from Bisseuil (90%) and Ambonnay (10%). 80% 2020. Tirage April 2021, disgorged January 2024. Dosage 4 g/l. The colour is so deep it's almost rosé. Watermelon rind and rain on steel and then alpine strawberries, black pepper and stones. Soft bubbles offset by fine-ground chalk texture. Long and gripping every tiny space in the mouth. Just great. Bold orange and dusty mint. Long and insistent. Not letting go. Amazing length. Drinking range: 2024 - 2029 Rating: 17 Tamlyn Currin - www.JancisRobinson.com (May 2024)
Champagne Gonet-Médeville
Xavier has twelve hectares in total, spread across eight villages. There are three Grands Crus, Le Mesnil sur Oger, Oger and Ambonnay, as well as five Premiers Crus, Mareuil sur Ay, Bisseuil (where he has a substantial 4.8 hectare plot), Billy Le Grand, Trépail and Vaudemange.
In 1996 Xavier met Julie Médeville (of the Bordeaux family which owns the Graves Château Respide Médeville and the Sauternes Château Gilette) at a tasting in Reims, and they married the following year. Xavier set out on a path to quality from the moment he was in charge in 2000, and is keen to emphasise what he does and does not do. "One press makes nine barrels - and it all goes into barrel, all divided according to the parcels it comes from.", he says, "no malo, no chaptalisation, no filtration, and the wines are left in barrel to stabilise. The red wines are properly red. The non-vintages are around 70-80% of the current year, with up to 30% reserves, normally just 20% of the previous year and 10% of the year before that."
Our first visit here was a joy, seeing the vineyard in Bisseuil, which is all in one block, on a sunny south-facing slope, which is perfect for achieving full ripeness. The tasting after so much anticipation is always an anxious moment on both sides, but the 'Tradition' does not let him down - indeed it sets the bar very high - simply delicious, and we both know that we are on the right track. The Rosé both surprises and delights because it is so different - almost all Chardonnay except the the red used for colour, it is a sprightly apéritif rosé. The micro-cuvées that make up the rest of the range are the stuff of future legend, rare, but worth seeking out.
"What made me want to make Champagne was wines from '29, '45, '55, '59, '61, '64 - I want to make wines like that", says Xavier. You need have no fear of cellaring these wines to see how they evolve, however delicious they are now.
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