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  • Country ranking ?

    812
  • Producer ranking ?

    14
  • Decanting time

    20min
  • When to drink

    now to 2040
  • Food Pairing

    Salmon with a mild butter sauce

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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The Story

Belonging exclusively to Philipponnat, the Clos des Goisses is an exceptional vineyard of 5,5 Ha enclosed by walls, with an impressive gradient of 30 to 45°, facing full south, where Philipponnat produces the most powerful of Champagne wines. Always vintaged, very lightly dosed, this uncommon wine is characterized by incredible length and body, in which Pinot Noir characteristics predominate. This fabulous wine for great occasions, extraordinarily mineral and intense is also a marvelous companion for gastronomy matching game, mushrooms and even cheeses.

Vinification: Wine-making for Clos des Goisses is totally traditional. Its only originality resides in the absence of malo-lactic fermentation, which is systematically avoided. Thus, the wine maintains a vivacity and freshness that balances its alcoholic strength, its intensity, its roundness without masking any of its body and aromas and, on the contrary, contributes to its persistence. Wood, in this elaboration philosophy, is only partially used (30%); rather as a minor element in blending only there to increase complexity.

Aging: Very mature and intense, Clos des Goisses is an open, aromatic wine, although closed when young. Ageing in our own cellars is not so much destined to round it out, but rather to add still greater dimension and complexity. Ideal ageing is from 8 to 10 years, the prime of life for Clos des Goisses. At this age, the wine attains its greatest complexity without having lost its freshness. It is at this point that degorgement is carried out and the wine readied for sale. The structure of the wine is such that it will age gracefully for decades if kept in an adequate environment (cool and dark). One should not be afraid to decant Clos des Goisses before service to let the wine reveal its full potential.

Clos des Goisses could only be served with meals as it is a wine in the truest sense of the term. It marries perfectly with foie gras, truffles, red meats, game and dishes with sauce. A wine as much as a Champagne, Clos des Goisses deserves to be put into a decanter. With in the ample curves of a ewer, it reaches its full potential as a fine wine: aromatic power, finesse and voluptuousness. Contrary to the preconceived notion that Champagne does not improve with age, this Champagne is perfectly suited to ageing and may he kept for more than 10 years.

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Wine Information

Climbing the steep hill of Clos des Goisses against the shadows of the setting sun, our thoughts settled and the busy day seemed like yesterday. The sounds of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ village below had grown fainter and were accompanied only by the last rays of the vanishing sun.
The peace was perfect on that even hilltop. The 5,5 hectare vineyard that spread out around us is the best known after Krug´s Clos du Mesnil. Even after sunset the southern slope of the vineyard seemed to glow with warmth – Charles Philipponnat said that Clos des Goisses and particularly its southern slope enjoy a clearly unusual, very warm
microclimate.

“Clos des Goisses vineyard is divided into at least two parts, sometimes even more, that all have their own microclimates. In bad, rainy and cold years the vineyard´s southern slope can produce rather well balanced grapes when the other parts of the vineyard fail.
On the other hand in hot and dry years the grapes of the southern slope downright shrivel before the harvest, spending long days under the burning sun. This is when the cooler, shadier parts of the vineyard offer well matured grapes, where the balance between sugar and acidity is better. We produce the Clos des Goisses champagne only on good years, when our whole vineyard gives fruity, well balanced grapes.”


The Clos des Goisses vineyard is owned by the Philipponnat champagne house and the Philipponnats have lived in the Champagne region since the 17th century. Pierre and Auguste Philipponnat founded the champagne house in 1910 in the village of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, roughly five kilometers from the city of Epernay.
Their first vineyards ( 17 hectares ), including Clos des Goisses, were acquired in the mid 1930s. Today only a quarter of the estates yearly 500.000 bottles come from the products of its own vineyards, the rest is bought from local growers.
The estate´s best champagne Clos des Goisses is a very lasting champagne, so Charles Philipponnat does not recommend it to be drunk until it reaches the age of 15-20, and even then it should decanted, which is exceptional for champagnes.

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Vintage 1996

Up to this point 1996 has been considered a fantastic vintage which produced classic wines; the best since 1990. A long, dry summer produced grapes of record ripeness with record acidity. Some, including myself, question how the 1996s are aging. The wines are generally characterized by a distinctive rather lemony acidity and very good attack, but some wines now seem terribly austere, while others already seem dangerously short of fruit. None of the subsequent vintages are quite as distinctive as 1996, which in the more successful cases should almost certainly be drunk after the 1999s.

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Tasting note

color

Full

ending

Long and Lingering

flavors

Apricot

nose

Intense and Complex

recommend

Yes

taste

Full-bodied

Written Notes

Ancient Bollinger barrels on the nose with walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts and dark chocolate. Still clean and vibratingly fresh. So young and so structured, at the same time soft but with good acidity. Majestic length and great drive. Dry and a little unwieldy for a while, but a great Goisses for those who are around when it reaches its peak! Already creamier and more tempting, even though some bottles exude hyacinth smells and unbalance. Delicious in my last tasting.
  • 93p

50% Pinot Noir, 50% Chardonnay. Disgorged January 2010. Dosage 4.5 g/l.
Deep straw. One of the most mature noses in this collection of 1996s. Almost cheesy. Very dry finish after lots of opulence. Not that fizzy. Big and bold and with enough weight to counteract the (very considerable) acidity. Really at peak. Really builds on the finish. A champagne to drink with a meat course?

  • 95p

Fine stuff! Biscuit on the nose with fresh, crisp mouthfeel, with bottle-age flavors.  In mid-life. **** Now – 2028.

  • 93p

This wine is elegantly reserved with a strong nose, ripe fruitiness, cherry and promising toasty aromas. The firm and linear structure has a perfect straightforward acidity. The fact that Clos de Goisses requires time to open is well known, and the brilliant vintage of 1996 will surely require even more time. One of the best kept secrets of Champagne.

  • 95p
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Information

Origin

Mareuil-sur-Ay, Champagne

Vintage Quality

Outstanding

Value For Money

Best buy

Investment potential

Below Average

Fake factory

None

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