Pierre Gimonnet Cuis Blanc de Blancs Brut
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Wine &
Spirits -
James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Spectator - Decanter
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Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Lively, aerial, not measured, technically perfect... This Cuvee Brut sans annee Cuis 1er Cru represents the archetype style of the Pierre Gimonnet & Fils.
One appreciates this classic assembly "without year", a consistent taste, for its vivacity, its lightness, and its fineness: the whole purity of the Great Chardonnays of the Côte des Blancs.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
From north-facing vineyards in Cuis, this is 2017 chardonnay, enhanced with 27 percent of reserve wines aged in bottles, from the 2010 to 2015 vintages. The pale-white fruit holds mineral freshness in its depths of white-cherry and white-peach flavors. The acidity provides tension and limestone abrasion, while feeling completely integrated into the fruit. It’s a gripping cold-climate chardonnay for meaty game fish.
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James Suckling
This delightful Blanc de Blancs marries excellent depth of character – all the citrus, crisp pear and floral aromas of chardonnay – with charm. Properly dry, but very harmonious, thanks to the excellent balance of citrusy freshness and creaminess. Long, clean finish, accentuated by the lively mousse. Drink now.
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Jeb Dunnuck
This NV Champagne 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs Cuis Brut is expressive, with more classic appeal, though it takes on a light reductive tinge, with flint and wet asphalt aromatics. It has more direct concentration, with fresh green apple underneath, lemon zest, and white blossoms. The palate is more focused and concentrated, with a long finish and a pronounced chalky texture. The palate is long and persistent, with fresh acidity. I think this will mature nicely and take on classic blanc de blancs custard in the future. Best after 2025.
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Wine Spectator
Delivers well-cut acidity married to a minerally overtone and flavors of nectarine, fleur de sel, biscuit and crystallized honey. An elegant blanc de blancs. Disgorged January 2022. Drink now.
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Decanter
100% Chardonnay. Didier Gimonnet’s aspiration for his entry NV is a cuvée with attack on the front, roundness in the middle and crispness on the end. The singular expression of his home village of Cuis, it is softened with reserves of the previous year’s blend, aged in magnums. The result is the quintessential aperitif, and one of the most pristine Champagnes for its price. The north-facing elegance of this village lets fine salt-chalk minerality sing in harmony with crystalline acidity.
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Wine Enthusiast
The wine is soft and rounded although unmistakably from Chardonnay in the chalky Côte des Blancs. Crisp apples have a light creaminess as well as lively acidity. Coming from Premier Cru vineyards, it shows a strongly mineral character that is filled out by the ripe fruitiness.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I tasted two different versions of Gimonnet's signature NV Cuis 1er Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs earlier this year; both were excellent as usual. The most recent disgorgement from January 2015 is based on the 2011 vintage (+ 22% Réserve wines), and is very pure, lovely, fresh and delicate on the typically intense, chalky/mineral, well balanced and elegant palate. The lighthearted yet quite complex wine was disgorged with a dosage of 6.5 grams per liter. The forerunner, based on 2008 and disgorged in October 2014, was even finer and provided with a very god length.
Rating: 90+
A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.
There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.
Associated with luxury, celebration, and romance, the region, Champagne, is home to the world’s most prized sparkling wine. In order to bear the label, ‘Champagne’, a sparkling wine must originate from this northeastern region of France—called Champagne—and adhere to strict quality standards. Made up of the three towns Reims, Épernay, and Aÿ, it was here that the traditional method of sparkling wine production was both invented and perfected, birthing a winemaking technique as well as a flavor profile that is now emulated worldwide.
Well-drained, limestone and chalky soil defines much of the region, which lend a mineral component to its wines. Champagne’s cold, continental climate promotes ample acidity in its grapes but weather differences from year to year can create significant variation between vintages. While vintage Champagnes are produced in exceptional years, non-vintage cuvées are produced annually from a blend of several years in order to produce Champagnes that maintain a consistent house style.
With nearly negligible exceptions, . These can be blended together or bottled as individual varietal Champagnes, depending on the final style of wine desired. Chardonnay, the only white variety, contributes freshness, elegance, lively acidity and notes of citrus, orchard fruit and white flowers. Pinot Noir and its relative Pinot Meunier, provide the backbone to many blends, adding structure, body and supple red fruit flavors. Wines with a large proportion of Pinot Meunier will be ready to drink earlier, while Pinot Noir contributes to longevity. Whether it is white or rosé, most Champagne is made from a blend of red and white grapes—and uniquely, rosé is often produce by blending together red and white wine. A Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay will be labeled as ‘blanc de blancs,’ while ones comprised of only red grapes are called ‘blanc de noirs.’