First Taste: Champagne Gosset’s new long-aged rosé

‘For me, Champagne is the best wine for ageing,’ said Gosset cellar master Odilon de Varine earlier this year at the ProWein trade fair in Düsseldorf where the wine, now released in the UK, was first presented. The new cuvée is a rosé Champagne aged for 12 years on lees.

Demonstrating the future

The wine is part of the house’s Compte d’Age series, which, it says, ‘pays tribute to wines with long ageing potential; an experience hitherto only available to the cellar master.’

Scroll down to see Anne Krebiehl MW’s tasting note and score for the new Gosset rosé cuvée

De Varine explains that the idea behind the project was to prove the point of ageing, ‘even for rosé, even for non-vintage. I knew his wine would take years to evolve and I wanted to have a Champagne to show to my successors, to taste it over several years.’

With his successor Gabrielle Bouby-Malagu in place, who has worked alongside him since 2017, it was now time to release this exceptional cuvée.

This is the first release of a rosé wine in this series, following two previous white releases: 15 Ans de Cave a Minima in 2016 and 12 Ans de Cave a Minima in 2020.

A love of rosé

Admitting that he loves rosé, de Varine says: ‘A friend once brought Gosset rosé from 1971 and 1973, and they were just wonderful. Rosé probably ages better than white, I do not know why, possibly because of phenolics – it certainly keeps its freshness.’ Thus the idea of the long-aged and late released non-vintage rosé was born.

The base year for the wine was 2009 with some reserve wines, put on tirage in 2010 and disgorged with a dosage of 4.5g/L in summer 2022.

The wine unites immense, creamy richness with Gosset’s customary briskness. The grapes were sourced from parcels with deep chalk and very little topsoil in the Montagne de Reims, the Vallée de la Marne and the Côte des Blancs.

The villages of Cumières, Louvois, Verzy, Ambonnay and Bouzy were namechecked. It is a blend of 65% Chardonnay and 35% Pinot Noir – of which 8% is vinified as red wine to lend the pink colour.

Just 7,000 bottles were made, and the wine will retail in the UK for £125-£130.

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Gosset’s new long-aged rosé tasted and rated:

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