2005 Pierre Gimonnet Brut Vintage Vieilles de Chardonnay

The 2005 Millesime de Collection Vieilles Vignes de Champagne Magnum (disgorged in 9/2014) offers a lovely clear, bright, intense and fresh, lemon-scented bouquet of white fruits and chalk. Chalky, complex and firmly structured on the palate, this is a very expressive and tension-filled champagne of great purity, freshness and finesse, but also complexity. The finish is persistently mineral. This Magnum should go for more than ten years easily and will become even finer.

Bottled exclusively in magnum, the Gimonnet 2005 Brut Blanc de Blancs Millesime de Collection reflects sites in Cramant, Chouilly, and Cuis. Bittersweet perfume of iris; almond extract; and a slightly dank expression of wet stone and alkali usher in a relatively lean palate whose continuation of floral, nutty and mineral elements remains low-key but sustained. Herb and tea nuances compound interest as this takes on just a bit of air, and I am confident that it will remain fascinating for close to a half dozen years. (Note that when it came to vintage 2004, magnums bearing this label contained the same wine as Gimonnet’s 750 ml. “Special Club” bottling of that vintage; whereas in the case of vintage 2005, the two are quite distinct.) Pierre Gimonnet farms nearly 70 prime acres – overwhelmingly in the Cote des Blancs – which are reflected in a similarly enormous range of different cuvees, most of them represented in the U.S. market in any given year and tasted by me for this report. What’s more, future expansion of official Champagne acreage around Cramant and Chouilly will offer Gimonnet opportunity to broaden his vine footprint. Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300