Michael Edwards dips a toe into a rare Gosset Celebris vertical to mark the release of the 2004 vintage...
October 5th 2016 in London saw several firsts for Gosset, the oldest surviving Champagne house.
Odilon de Varine, Gosset’s chef de cave, was here to showcase the latest arrival in their Celebris extra-brut prestige cuvée range, the 2004 – an exceptional year vying with the epic 2002 vintage.
The most riveting part of the day (and another first from Gosset) was the vertical tasting. The new 2004 vintage was followed by the 2002, 1998 1995, 1990, and 1988.
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Michael’s top 3 Celebris vintages:
De Varine was at pains to emphasise his attention to detail,
‘we are still a tiny house with an annual production of about 1 million bottles. What we can do, which Champagne houses 20 times our size often can’t, is to micro-monitor the élevage [rearing] of our wines as they mature in bottle on lees for 10/15 years’
He went on to point out that ‘non malo’ winemaking, preserving malic acid’s freshness and tension, is central to Gosset’s approach.
Ageing on lees is even more important for a long life and complexity, with De Varine hinting that character is everything for Celebris,
‘The bubbles are there to prevent oxidation, if I lose a little mousse but get more character, I’m happy. It’s the wine that matters’
It is fair to say that Celebris is not a ‘dance hall’ Champagne, but one for food.
