Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2012 Champagne Clos de Goisses Juste Extra Brut Rosé has 8-10% percent of still wine added to the base. The color is a pale salmon hue, and the wine is pretty, with a perfume of apricot, raspberry, spice box, and delicate smoke. It is full and satin-like in texture, with a fine mousse that coats the palate, and its underlying energy lifts its bouquet through a lasting finish. This is an exceptional wine to drink 2024-2044.
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James Suckling
This has pretty aromas of apple skins, strawberries, white pepper, hazelnuts, honeycomb, cinnamon stick and apricot compote. Open and silky, with very fine, soft bubbles, yet a firmness and phenolic tightness to it. Refined. 68% pinot noir and 32% chardonnay. Disgorged March 2022. Only 2255 bottles. Drink now or hold.
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Vinous
The 2012 Extra-Brut Clos des Goisses Juste Rosé is a wild, exotic wine. Kirsch, white pepper, flowers, mint and cranberry lend a gorgeous air of exoticism. As always, the Rosé is light in body gracious and all finesse. The blend is 68% Pinot Noir and 32% Chardonnay. This is the first release made with a blend of what is essentially a Blanc de Noirs base, with the ‘still red’ portion (18%) coming from a saignée. Time in the glass brings out the breadth and natural texture of the year. This is a gorgeous Rosé from Philipponat.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
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.’