‘In Champagne we have a saying,’ says Gosset cellar master Odilon de Varine, ‘juillet fait le bouquet, août fait le moût,’ which translates roughly into English as ‘July makes the bouquet, August makes the flavour’.
‘The weather we had in July was fresh, with a wonderful August lasting until harvest. We knew straight away it was a vintage year,’ says de Varine.
2012’s reputation as a top Champagne vintage is thanks to a combination of sunny ripeness and energising acidity. ‘We had frost, and then hail [in the Côte des Blancs],’ says de Varine, which contributed to low yields and in turn concentrated both ripeness and acidity.
The blend for Celebris is created afresh each time, with no recipe to follow and all the blending elements tasted blind: ‘nothing is off the table,’ says de Varine, ‘I don’t want to have any preconceptions with Celebris’.
The result for the 2012 is a blend of 70% Chardonnay, the composition of which is notable for the inclusion not only of the well-known grand cru villages of the Côte des Blancs, but also of the Montagne de Reims and the Grande Vallée of the Marne. 30% Pinot Noir from Ambonnay, Bouzy, Avenay and Louvois acts as a ‘base’ for the Chardonnay, according to de Varine.
De Varine characterises the vintage as one of ‘finesse’ next to the ‘round and rich’ 2008; an interpretation that goes somewhat against the often-heard generalisations of these two great years in Champagne. ‘We had great acidity in 2012 – between 7g/L-8g/L, which is now unusual. This year [2023] it is nearer 5g/L,’ he says.
Gosset chooses to block the softening malolactic fermentation in its wines, no doubt a contributing factor to the tight, tense build that characterises the range. The natural fruit concentration of 2012, though, seems like a counterbalance to this ethos, resulting in a Celebris that, although delicate and still youthful, avoids both austerity and rigid demands for patience.
‘It’s still a baby,’ says Varine however, expecting Celebris 2012 to enjoy a long life in the cellar.
Followers of the house will find a wine that makes its case as the finest release of recent years.
Gosset Celebris 2012 retails in the UK for about £210.
Tasting note and score for Champagne Gosset Celebris 2012
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