Highlights: two from Champagne Michel Gonet
Champagne Michel Gonet Les 3 Terroirs Blanc de Blancs 2010 France
12.5% alcohol. This is from Vindey (Sezanne), Montguex (Aube) and Mesnil sur Oger. Disgorged November 2019 with 5 g/l dosage. With some colour, this is a complex, mature wine showing some notes of toast and hazelnut with good acidity. The sugar just takes the edge off it, and it tastes quite dry with nice crystalline citrus fruit, a touch of nectarine and some spicy notes and also some candied fruit. Very satisfying in a rich style. 91/100
Champagne Michel Gonet Grand Cru Mesnil Sur Oger 2011 France
12.5% alcohol. This is from the lieu dit ‘Les Hautes Mottes’, and it’s zero dosage, disgorged in October 2019. The base wine is aged partly in barrels from Jean-Marc Roulot in Bourgogne, who is a friend of theirs. Concentrated, dense and crystalline with lovely taut, compact citrus fruit. There’s a lovely brightness and intensity here, with layers of flavour – lemons, a bit of spice, some pink grapefruit and some fine minerality. It has a tapering finish that goes on and on. This doesn’t need any dosage after the extended ageing on lees, although it could have handled a small one that might have rounded things out a little. But as it stands, this is a compact, structured Champagne with great precision. Serious stuff. 93/100
UK agent: Keeling Andrews