Philipponnat Clos des Goisses - One of Champagne's Hottest Tickets

Described as “one of the true icons of Champagne” and as “consistently one of the world's foremost wines”, the Clos des Goisses vineyard is probably as unique as the wine it yields. Purchased in 1935 and overlooking the river Marne, its dizzying incline of between 30 and 45 degrees makes it one of the steepest sites in the region, helping create a completely individual microclimate that can be two to three degrees warmer than the rest of Champagne. This means that even in cool vintages, the wines have atypical power, depth and texture, coupled to a wonderfully pure and intense mineral backbone. In short, these are exhilarating and age-worthy wines of the very highest order. 

The noise surrounding single vineyard Champagnes has never been louder – a trend driven initially (and seemingly paradoxically) by the larger houses, then more recently by the growers. One of the original single vineyard sites, if not actually the first (that honour goes to Clos du Mesnil, originally a grower parcel before its acquisition by the house of Krug), was Clos des Goisses, the jewel in the impressive Philipponnat stable and one of Champagne’s very finest vineyards. The first known vintage of this great site was 1935, and in the intervening years this special plot has become known for producing powerful and long-lived champagnes that possess a unique combination of ripeness and structure.

The first question of any single vineyard is whether the production is consistently good enough, or better, than what might be achieved through blending. Not all vineyards have the magic touch that Goisses possesses. As Tom Stevenson reported in World of Fine Wine issue 49 - “In my experience of watching how individual vineyards perform over 35 vintages, the two that stand out in this respect are Clos des Goisses and Clos du Mesnil, but for completely different reasons. It is the unique topography of Clos des Goisses (which always allows some parcels to excel) – in conjunction with its high active lime content (30 percent compared to 25 percent throughout the rest of Mareuil-sur-Ay) and significantly warmer microclimate (2.7 ° F higher mean temperature during the growing season) – that endows this vineyard with the intrinsic ability to produce something special".

When Richard Juhlin compiled his list of the 50 best late disgorged Champagnes for ‘The World of Fine Wine’ a staggering 10 places were filled by Philipponnat Clos des Goisses. At number two in the chart was the `55 with 99 points. Clos des Goisses also took 6th with 98 points, 11th, 14th, 17th (all 97 points) 27th, 28th (96) 41st, 42nd (95) and 50th (94) – quite respectable for a little known house! But, amongst aficionados, Philipponnat is a very big name with a formidable reputation for aging into some of the most complex and aristocratic wines of the region.

2004 was a truly exceptional year for this hallowed wine and the very first vintage to be made in Philipponnat’s new hi-tech winery. Antonio Galloni was completely taken by it, calling it a “towering, utterly majestic wine” that “captivates all of the senses with its stunning grace and pure pedigree”. He goes on to say it is “one of the very best vintages of this iconic Champagne I remember tasting”, and concludes “The 2004 Clos des Goisses is a must-have Champagne. It's as simple as that.”

The 2006 vintage from Clos des Goisses has now bowled us over on two tasting occasions. The impressively steep, south facing aspect of the Goisses vineyard, that leads down to the River Marne (one reason for such consistent ripeness) has produced a wine of considerable concentration and length, fabulously ripe fruit and the structure and tension for extended cellaring. It is as good as anything we’ve tasted from the 2006 vintage. The vital statistics are as follows: 65% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, 4.5 g/l of dosage, disgorged May 2015 after 8 years sur lie.

Goisses 2007 is an exceptional ‘07, quite possibly the best we’ve tasted. The wine represents a gorgeous interplay between poised and expressive fruit and polished minerality. Aromatically, there’s a wealth of red berry and golden fruit on the nose, which expands to include notes of sweet orange blossom and jasmine with time in the glass. Structurally this is all elegance and charm ahead of out and out Goisses power; open and silky fruit and mineral components mingle with a very fine, almost creamy bead, culminating in a surprisingly long, focussed, chalk inflected finish. All in all this is one of the most charming and alluring young Goisses we can remember, a blend of 65% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, with 4.25g/l dosage, disgorged in June 2016 after 8 years sur lie. Winemaking was done primarily in wooden barrels, with no malo-lactic fermentations carried out.

We love the 2008 vintage in Champagne. Capricious at first, the season blossomed in September when an extended period of sun-kissed days and cool nights arrived, giving the crisp grapes the perfect end of season boost. The resulting harvest provided fruit with ripe clear profiles and exceptional acidity; the ideal material for making very fine Champagne.

The combination of the 2008 growing season and the magical Clos des Goisses vineyard has produced an utterly spectacular result.

Tasting the 2008 we found ourselves trying to remember a more impressive young Champagne release from any grower. The power is there, particularly evident on the exceptionally long finish. But what impressed most was the incredible clarity of aromas, the contrasting structural qualities of delicacy and strength, and the kaleidoscopic transparency of flavours that are somehow etched into the core of the wine. If anyone was wondering about the critics’ hype surrounding the vintage, Clos des Goisses 2008 would be a fine way to prove that point.

The keys to the success of Clos des Goisses lie in the exceptional steepness, the pure belemnite chalk soils, the positioning of the vines directly above the Marne river, and a directly south facing exposition. All of these combine to provide optimal ripening conditions, allowing Charles Philipponnat and his team to ensure fabulous grape maturity even when others struggle. The result is one of Champagne’s most impressive and dependable wines, entirely capable of legend status in years such as these.

Clos des Goisses Juste Rosé 2008. A vintage that needs no fanfare, Philipponnat’s Juste Rosé is everything you’d hope it might be. The addition of a small proportion of still red wine from the higher Goisses plots brings with it exotic notes of Damask rose, fine spice and wild red currants, wonderful flavours that surround an intense steely core that drives and maintains a remarkably long precise finish. It’s a beautiful wine that is only going to get better.

Following on from the extraordinary, runaway success of the 2008 vintage, one couldn’t help but wonder what tricks the 5.5ha Clos des Goisses could conjure for 2009. For a start the blend is back to the more classical Goisses proportions with 69% Pinot Noir to Chardonnay’s 31%. As ever malolactic fermentation was entirely avoided, and to further enhance freshness, only 37% of this year’s blend was aged in wood. The wine spent eight years ageing sur lie before disgorgement in March 2018.

The result is, in the words of Charles Philipponnat “Perhaps even more of a true Clos des Goisses than the exceptional 2008”.

The flavour profile of the 2009 is wonderfully pure - the vintage was one of the healthiest harvests on record – while structurally this is as regal as you’d expect from a great Clos des Goisses. It is impeccably balanced. The pure chalk soils seems particularly present in the 2009, bringing control and freshness to the keenly rendered flavours of red and black berry fruit. With time these should gently evolve into cacao, orange, chocolate - ripe flavours but without the intrusion of botrytis or excessive glycerol. Full and powerful but with an ever present spine of acidity and minerality, the wine reminds Charles Philipponnat of their 1989; a ripe, sunny vintage with little ‘fat’ – though of course the 2009 will have benefited from far more precise winemaking

“Over the past 18 years we’ve made many improvements to our winemaking process. As a result the wines we are making these days are more precise, they have more freshness and more pixels than they used to have in the past. And of course, 2009 is a ripe vintage but it also has surprising freshness. More than the 1989 had at the time. We’ve achieved this by cutting out any oxidation in the winemaking, by using smaller casks, using lower dosage, systematising the non-malo-lactic character – all elements that help to preserve the freshness and purity inherently found our steep, south facing pure chalk terroir.” Charles Philipponnat.

The remarkable, but diminutive 2010. A draconian selection process resulted in one of the smallest yields in memory. The five hectares that make up Clos des Goisses have produced a mere 5000 bottles of this bold and luxurious cuvee. To put that in context, this is just a quarter of a normal crop. Faced with the possibility of over ripeness the Philipponnat team intentionally selected their leanest, most vibrant plots for the 2010, and in doing so have succeeded in maintaining beautiful freshness in a vintage that might otherwise have leant too far towards texture, richness and opulence. It was a brave decision that carries with it a dash of regret. “Having now seen the quality of our 2010 I realise we could have produced more!” Charles Philipponnat lamented.

Stylistically it speaks more of the Cote d’Or than Chablis, with ripe fruit alongside notes of buttered toast, smoke and vanilla. It is a Pinot Noir dominated cuvee, at 71%, which paradoxically enhances the richly golden Cote d’Or analogy. Charles’ suggestion of pairing it alongside a Grand Cru from the Puligny/Chassagne appellations has all the makings of a highly enjoyable experiment. Those lucky enough to buy a case or two will be able to approach it relatively early, though of course those holding on will eventually be in possession of one of the rarer Clos des Goisses on the market.

Clos des Goisses 2011, precursor to the mouthwatering, yet limited, prospect of 2012. Some years on from the release this remains one of our favourite wines from the vintage. This is a complex, fascinating wine – not built on power, but with a beguiling aromatic profile that runs from the floral to savoury and a palate of citrus, elderflower, fresh bay leaf, orange zest, ginger and crushed rocks. Full of nerve, vibrancy and focused intensity, it is one of the smaller Clos des Goisses releases to date with just over 1000 9L cases produced.

The praise for Clos des Goisses 2011 is now pretty much universal. More and more it is proving itself a truly top-drawer single vineyard expression that absolutely defies 2011’s rather middling reputationAwarded a rare 18.5 point score from Jancis Robinson MW and the comment of not only “the finest 2011 I’ve tasted”, but also an “outstanding Champagne for any vintage” from leading Champagne expert Peter Liem, the critics are in chorus when it comes to the quality of this ever-illustrious wine.

Riding a wave of interest not seen since 2008, the 2012 vintage established itself as the most exciting of Champagne releases in recent years, with many suggesting that the wines actually possess a refinement and finesse in their youth that even the brilliant, but more austere, 2008s couldn’t muster. As is often the case though, the best years are not necessarily the most generous, and in this instance, Clos des Goisses production was in line with 2011 at just 13,000bts - positively miniscule in the context of prestige cuvees. We have been smitten by its composure, its intensity, and beautifully detailed citrus, floral, berried and velvety, savoury notes since release. Fermented in third-use ex-Meursault barrels and eventually disgorged in April 2021, the 2012 is a fundamentally stunning offering. With a faint grip and sense of power on the finish, this is a single-vineyard Champagne with everything in place to sit alongside the finest expressions in Philipponnat’s long and fabled history.

A genuinely late vintage for Champagne driven by cool and wet early season weather – conditions that also led to a drastic reduction in yields in the early flowering Clos des Goisses. As time goes on, this “throwback” vintage, recalling years prior to the onset of climate change, is increasingly seen as a valid rival to the much lauded 2012 vintage. Goisses 2013 can certainly hold its head up high next to its slightly older sibling – offering brilliant ripe acidity, crystalline precision, and mouthwatering tension. The extra ripeness afforded by this great site has really given an X factor to this exceptional 2013.

The steep slopes of this intensely chalky vineyard come into their own in a growing season like 2014 – a cool, high yielding year. Capturing all the rays the sun had to offer, Clos des Goisses' south facing vines produced grapes of brilliance and ripeness, resulting in a glorious Champagne that offers the site’s natural power tempered by the fresh luminosity and detail of the 2014 vintage.

The vintage was the second cool season in a row, though markedly different to the very late 2013. Not only was harvest earlier in 2014, but yields were significantly higher too, so the wine has a more relaxed, delicate, flowing feel than its predecessor. The fruit is absolutely pure, with a clarity of expression that suggests a long window of drinking; a bottle opened now will charm and delight, and we're quite certain this will be a total joy at 10, 20 and 30 years old. Charles Philipponnat's view is that the fruit will remain pure and dominant, with less of a turn to the savoury tones of coffee and cacao than some of the more intense and structured vintages.

With a habit of performing in vintages when others either can’t or don’t, Clos des Goisses has become something of a beacon for shattering preconceptions about a vintage. Very often this is called out in challenging years where others have struggled for ripeness. But the same goes for warmer seasons, particularly very dry versions, like 2015.

Terroir shines in challenging years. In a year like ‘15, the magnificence of Clos des Goisses, a vineyard that never struggles for ripeness, is doubly impressive. There’s undeniable power and depth to the ‘15, but look beyond that and there’s remarkable clarity, control, and crispness, stemming from the underlying chalky element that accompanies the wine right across the palate and through the highly persistent finish. Choosing to harvest late, seeking true balance while avoiding the astringency that is possible in such dry seasons, Charles Philipponnat has crafted a Clos des Goisses that marries high ripeness with high style. The extract, the structure, the chalk notes all serve to bring energy, driving the wine forwards, while flavours of yellow plum, salt and candied bergamot provide beauty and keep you coming back for more. This is a deep, bold, muscular Goisses that never loses sight of its origins; a masterclass in Champagne’s ability to be both great and graceful.

The 2016 vintage was a tale of two halves. A series of frosts reduced yields at the tail end of April and thereafter a cool and rather wet summer ensued until August, when the sun came out and allowed ripening to progress easily and dynamically. “Aout fait le mout” as they say, and when the grapes were finally picked in mid-September, the potential for high quality was obvious, particularly in finest Pinot Noir plots.

With its steep south facing aspect, Clos des Goisses seldom fails to achieve impressive ripeness. In ‘16 Goisses offers a crystalline beauty allied to a sense of weightless intensity, hitting the pallet like a high harmony and tapering off to a long finish. After nine years sur lie it is extremely easy enjoy it today, and yet it will also amply reward those with patience. It should be very beautiful with age.