Christian Gosset
Croix-Courcelles Grand Cru Champagne Extra-Brut 2018
Christian Gosset Croix-Courcelles Grand Cru Champagne Extra-Brut 2018
Champagne Christian Gosset is a boutique project by one of the most experienced winemakers and family names synonymous with quality in the village of Aÿ in the Vallée de la Marne. The Christian Gosset style is aromatic, powerful, and structured but always in search of finesse and elegance, with a common thread of verticality, precision, and intensity. Christian Gosset crafts gastronomic Champagnes destined to elevate world-class cuisine with a trademark long, complex finish. Christian’s ethos for his wines follows three tenets: typicity, precision, and pleasure.
Croix-Courcelles is made from two very small south-facing parcels of pinot noir and chardonnay planted at a slightly lower elevation in the Grand Cru village of Aÿ in the Vallée de la Marne. The two parcels are at the bottom of the slope, facing south, planted in deep, chalky soils on the road that leads to Épernay. Produced only in exceptional vintages in tiny quantities, Croix-Courcelles represents a powerful and transparent expression of the complexity of the Aÿ terroir.
Croix-Courcelles has an aromatically intense and complex nose with notes of strawberry, blackcurrant, blueberry, pepper, honey, spices, plums, violets, and foliage on a smoky, toasty background. The palate is broad with a beautiful vinosity and a dense texture. The finish is very long and structured, marked by minerality and adorned with savory elements.
Vinification:
Bunches are hand-picked in small baskets with a strict selection in the vineyard. Winemaking is low-impact and low-intervention, with the pressing done at his neighbor Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy’s winery in a traditional Coquard basket press. The coeur de cuvée arrives by gravity into Christian Gosset’s cellar, directly into new and used 228L French barriques, where it undergoes both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. The wine is only moved twice – once into the fermentation barrel and once into the bottle. As Christian says, “let the wines ferment quietly, and then we meet again in July for the bottling.” The wine remains in the barrel completely undisturbed for 11 months without bâtonnage until bottling, which is important to avoid any oxidation. As a result, little to no sulfur is needed because the wine is not moved.
Croix-Courcelles produces six barrels of wine, and only one new barrel is introduced each year; the others are between two and five years old, and all are produced by Tonnellerie de Champagne. Christian Gosset Champagnes are raw and natural, with no fining, filtering, or cold stabilization. He doesn’t feel the wine needs to be totally clear because disgorgement removes any potential sediment. All wines are aged in his cellar for a minimum of three years on the lees before disgorgement, regardless of the vintage.