Champagne Philipponnat Clos des Goisses 2013 (Disg. March 2022)

The majestic Clos des Goisses vineyard rises steeply from the edge of the Marne River and is planted to 3.5 hectares of Pinot Noir and two hectares of Chardonnay. This historically revered south-facing slope was the first in the region to be bottled as a single-vineyard wine. Today, with a focus on precise viticulture, old mass-selection vines, moderate yields and ripe fruit at harvest, the wine has never been better.

The extremely chalky soils of the Clos des Goisses, its aspect and atypical warmth—the average growing season temperature here is 1.5°C higher than most of Champagne—result in one of Champagne’s most powerful and intense wines. Yet what makes this site so special is its capacity to retain freshness even in vintages that are, on average, hotter than ever before. There is a signature freshness to the wine and a sustained sense of acidity that comes from the chalk, even in vintages that might be seen analytically to lack acidity.

The 2013 is a blend of 85% Pinot Noir and 15% Chardonnay. Some 47% of the wine was vinified in wooden barrels, with the balance in tank. There was no malolactic conversion. The wine was aged in bottle on lees for more than eight years at a constant temperature of 12°C in the house’s historic cellars in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. It was disgorged in March 2022 with an extra brut dosage of 4.25 g/L to give full expression to the vinosity and minerality of this exceptional vineyard.