Philipponnat: An ‘astounding’ Clos des Goisses 1978-2014 vertical

In the modern era, the idea of single-vineyard Champagne is commonplace, yet the concept of making a Champagne from a single site is comparatively new. The first that we know of, or that has stood the test of time, is Philipponnat’s Clos des Goisses, which the house has been producing for nearly 90 years.

One of Champagne’s most renowned vineyard sites, the Clos des Goisses is also one of the most picturesque, its steep slopes descending dramatically towards the Marne river below. It was purchased by Philipponnat in 1935, and since that time the house has used it to make a single-vineyard Champagne of intense expression and distinctive personality.

Scroll down for notes and scores for 31 releases of Clos des Goisses and Clos des Goisses Juste Rosé

The Clos des Goisses vineyard

Located in the village of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, the Clos des Goisses is most notable for the steepness of its slope: in the old Champenois dialect, gois or goisse indicates a very steep hillside, and in the gently rolling terrain of Champagne, the 45-degree slope of the Clos des Goisses is all the more conspicuous.

Its fully south-facing exposure creates an unusually warm microclimate, averaging 1.5℃ more than the surrounding parcels and usually four to six days ahead in ripening. This creates a wine of pronounced richness and power, yet it retains acidity and structure thanks to its poor, intensely chalky soils.

‘These are the ripest Champagnes you can get,’ says Charles Philipponnat, director of the house today. ‘Yet even though Clos des Goisses is south-facing, it’s fully on chalk, so that balances the extreme ripeness.’

The vineyard covers 5.5ha in total, of which three are planted with Pinot Noir and the rest Chardonnay. The typical blend today is about 60%-70% Pinot Noir and 30%-40% Chardonnay, although prior to 1964 Chardonnay was actually in the majority, as it thrives in the site’s chalky soils.

Due to the exceptional warmth of the site, Philipponnat has sought to bottle wine from the Clos des Goisses in as many vintages as possible, rather than making vintage Champagne only from the best years.

Since the inaugural vintage of 1935, there have been remarkably few years in which the wine was not made: there was none in 1944 or 1954, nor in 1963, 1965, 1967 or 1968. The vintages of 1972, 1974 and 1977 were omitted, as were 1981, 1984 and 1987. However, the house has made every vintage since, meaning that between 1935 and the current release of 2014, there have only been 12 vintages that were not produced, which is testament to the extraordinary quality and character of the Clos.

First Taste: Clos des Goisses 2014 & new Philipponnat releases

Rosé arrival

In 1999, when Charles Philipponnat took over management of the house, he began making a small quantity of rosé Champagne from the Clos des Goisses as well. Named Juste Rosé due to its pale colour, it was originally made with the addition of a small proportion of red wine from old vines of Pinot Noir in the Clos des Goisses vineyard.

Since 2006, however, it has been made with the saignéemethod instead, macerating Pinot Noir to produce a delicately coloured rosé that is then blended with the white wine. ‘We moved away from blending with reds to blending with saignée, because saignée is less tannic,’ says Philipponnat. ‘It stays fresher for a longer period of time, as the red wine tends to become heavier earlier.’

The saignée portion accounts for about a third of the blend, and overall the Juste Rosé usually maintains the classic Clos des Goisses proportions of 60%-70% Pinot Noir and 30%-40% Chardonnay.

A very special occasion

In October of 2023 I attended a vertical tasting of Clos des Goisses in Malmö, Sweden, organised by collector Marina Olsson for the 25th anniversary of her Gomseglet Wine & Champagne Connoisseurs tasting group.

Both Charles Philipponnat and his son François were in attendance, along with an international group of writers and wine tasters, and our tasting featured no fewer than 25 vintages of Clos des Goisses, as well as all nine vintages of Clos des Goisses Juste Rosé released to date.

Clos des Goisses is a famously long-lived wine, often needing many years to show its best, yet the opportunity to taste vintages in maturity has grown increasingly scarce. The house has comparatively few bottles in its cellars, and prices on the secondary market have risen significantly in recent years (figures from Liv-ex, obtained in January 2024, show that the 10 most recent vintages have all increased in value over the last five years by between 16%-44%). Despite a 18.3% decline in Liv-ex’s Champagne 50 index (which tracks the price performance of the most recent physical vintages of the 13 most actively traded Champagnes) in 2023, the demand for old and fine Champagne has still increased when viewed from April 2020 to today.

This, then, was a rare opportunity to see the evolution of Clos des Goisses over time, from the 1970s up to the modern day. I have tasted large verticals of Clos des Goisses in the past going back to the 1960s and 1950s, which at the time offered a historical retrospective of the site; this tasting, in contrast, highlighted for me the contemporary era, and the advances that the house has made under Charles Philipponnat’s direction.

Old versus new

To be fair, a number of the older vintages didn’t show well at this tasting, perhaps due to underperforming bottles, and three vintages were obviously corked, without replacement bottles: 2008, 2006 and 2000. Even so, the more recent releases clearly showed a greater clarity, precision and purity of flavour than the older wines, as well as more complexity and detail.

The 2009s, both the white Clos des Goisses and the Juste Rosé, were some of the highlights of the tasting, and the trio of 2012, 2013 and 2014 was outstanding, seemingly indicating the direction that the house is going.

The disgorgement dates varied among the bottles in the tasting, as indicated in the notes. Some wines were from original disgorgements, while others were LV, or Long Vieillissement, meaning a late-disgorged release.

Philipponnat doses all releases of Clos des Goisses at 4.5g/L, in order to preserve consistency. Beginning with the 2008 Clos des Goisses and the 2007 Juste Rosé, the labels read Extra Brut rather than Brut, but this was a labelling change and not a change in dosage.

In general, Clos des Goisses needs a great deal of post-disgorgement ageing to fully reveal its character, and it can continue developing for decades. As good as the recent releases are today, they will greatly benefit from further ageing, and will reward patience on the part of the consumer.

There is no doubt in my mind that Philipponnat is making better wines today than ever before, and that today’s releases will show greater complexity, expression and potential longevity than the older wines in this tasting, especially given an equivalent amount of ageing. With Philipponnat’s relentless pursuit of quality, however, all signs indicate that the greatest wines are yet to be made.

See notes and scores for 31 releases of Clos des Goisses and Clos des Goisses Juste Rosé

Wines are listed by vintage and by style.

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