Photo by Johnny

Gosset Celebris Blanc de Blancs Cuvee Extra Brut Champagne (750ml)

Multi-Vintage

* Bottling date (start of 2nd fermentation in bottle) March 1, 2000, indicating the youngest base wines are from the 1999 harvest.

Celebris Blanc de Blancs (multi-vintage) is the first-ever Blanc de Blancs (and the first-ever Extra Brut Cuvee) from this oldest wine house in Champagne.

So far, only one blend of Celebris BdB has been released: 99 based (55%), with reserve wines (45%!) from 98, 96 and 95 harvests. With such excellent years in the blend, it really deserves the prestigious name of 'Celebris' and shall be respectably regarded as 'multi-vintage', not NV...

The release started in 2007. Disgorgement to order. Thus, the bottles that I bought in Shanghai, arriving in early 2011, actually received longer ageing on lees.

Dosage: 3.5g/l

First tasted in April, 2011, when it was still clearly shaped by 'recent disgorgement' mould. Floral, racy, nervy, taut, incisively mineral and linear. Exciting, but not yet ready.

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This time tasted in early Dec, 2012. The post disgorgement ageing has brought out mellowed charm & completeness.

Pinpoint bubbles leisurely swirl. Discreet nose.

Velvety, sensual fruit indulges the taste buds right from the start! Golden ripeness. Sweet (fruitiness, not dosage) and vinous, with nuances of sweet apple, butter and roasted almond. But it is not just about sensuality. From the mid palate onto the aftertaste, the serious mineral core cuts its way through, revealing real class of subtle salinity and fine bitterness.

Poised exuberance. This remains true to Gosset style first, before being a Blanc de Blancs. Sensuality and thought-provoking depth seamlessly fused. Ready.