THE OLDEST WINE HOUSE IN CHAMPAGNE
LUXURY LIVING DINING u
THE OLDEST WINE HOUSE IN CHAMPAGNE
Established since 1584, by Pierre Gosset, Gosset is the oldest known wine house in Champagne founded in the Aÿ region. Previously a family ran business the first historical mention of the Gosset family is of Jean Gosset, Seigneur d’ Aÿ, in 153. Gosset initially produced still red wines as sparkling wine didn’ t make an appearance in the Champagne region until the 17th century.
It was at the start of the 18th century and in the cellar of King Frederick of France, a connoisseur of Pierre Gosset’ s wines, that the great history of Gosset as a Champagne producer began, a housethat remained family-run for 14 generations, until it was sold to the Cointreau family, owners of the Cognac house Pierre Frapin in 1994. Whilst the champagnes that it produces have never been plentiful in quantity, they have distinguished themselves with the consistently superb quality throughout the entire range of champagnes produced. Today under its new ownership, Gosset boasts production to one million bottles a year, maintaining its excellence thanks to its Chef du Cave Jean- Pierre Mareigner, the third generation of his family to serve the champagne house and who for the past 25 years has kept the secret of the wine’ s elegance, freshness and balance.
Gosset’ s style has distinguished itself over the year’ s thanks above all to its selection of grapes, which come from 120 hectares of vineyards that are 99 % Grand Cru and sourced from the same 45 villages each year, with each village vinified and stored separately in the cellar to preserve its identity and character. A point of pride at Gosset is that they mature their wines for four years which is significantly longer than the 15 months that is legally required for non-vintage champagnes and after bottling, the champagne is then aged a further 6 months in their cool cellars before they permit this champagne to be sold.
The champagne’ s extraordinary expressiveness comes from the Pinot Noir grown within a 30km radius of Epernay. Its award winning winemaking process involves no malolactic fermentation which preserves the precious malolactic acid that gives the natural fruity and fresh aroma to the wine. Fermentation is done in steel vats and batonnage is a stylistic choice to avoid any sensation of oxidation, the coté reducteur of the yeast is maximized, while in the cuvée sans année some 30 % is vins de reserve guarantee that flavour that has represented Gosset’ s style over the centuries.
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