Gosset is the oldest wine house in Champagne. The family can trace its line back to Jean Gosset, Lord of Aÿ and Mareuil in the early sixteenth century. The house itself dates from 1584, when his descendant Pierre Gosset, Lord and Alderman of Aÿ, set up as a négociant. In those days the wines were still and mostly red, grown in his own vineyards. Sixteen generations of direct descendants carried the business forward in Aÿ, long before Champagne learned to sparkle. Today Gosset holds France’s Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant status, an official recognition of living heritage and exceptional craftsmanship.
At the end of 1993 the house passed into the hands of the Renaud-Cointreau group, another family-owned company, which has made the preservation of the Gosset style its guiding principle. That partnership, together with the launch of the celebrated Celebris vintage cuvées, carried Gosset into the very first rank of Champagne houses. In 2009, needing room to grow, Gosset acquired a historic two-hectare estate in Épernay. Beneath its wooded park run 1.7 kilometres of cellars, carved into the chalk in the nineteenth century, where the wines now rest for years before release.
The Gosset style rests on a single idea: great mineral freshness, followed by deep vinosity. Grapes come from 140 hectares of vines spread across the whole of the Champagne region, giving the winemaking team a wide palette of villages to blend from year after year. Vinification is designed to protect the natural freshness of the fruit, preserving its full aromatic expression and giving the wines a remarkable capacity to age. Jean-Pierre Mareigner, who long served as cellar master, summed up the philosophy best: “we produce a wine first and foremost, the bubbles only add to its beauty.”
Since 2006 that philosophy has been in the hands of Odilon de Varine, head winemaker and deputy general manager, who continues the work of his predecessor with quiet precision. Every bottle carries a reminder of the family’s past. The distinctive antique-glass bottle was first used by Jean Gosset in 1760, taken from the family’s own collection of ancestral bottles. Its “necklace medallion” neck label, named after Albert Gosset, is unique in Champagne and makes a Gosset instantly recognisable on any table.
Gosset Grande Réserve is the house’s signature cuvée, and the clearest expression of everything Gosset stands for. Pinot Noir leads the blend at 40 to 45%, with Chardonnay at 30 to 35% and Meunier making up the balance. The fruit is drawn from villages including Aÿ, Ambonnay, Bouzy, Avize, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Cumières. The wine is bottled in the spring after harvest, then aged for a minimum of four years in the cellars. After disgorgement it rests for at least another six months, so the light 6 to 8 g/l dosage can settle in seamlessly. In the glass it shows a luminous golden hue. Lemon tart and Mirabelle plum lead on the nose, opening into honeyed, gently toasted notes as it warms. The palate is generous and structured, with the Pinot Noir lending depth, and white blossom and hawthorn carried on a fine citrus freshness.
These examples come in a gift box.
