"The Les Grandes Côtes bottling from Champagne Gerbais is based entirely on Pinot Noir from this vineyard, and again, has its own perpetual cuvée of reserve wines (started in 2011) and the first release was based on the 2017 harvest. Like all of the others, it was bottled up for secondary fermentation in June of 2018, and 50% of the blend is from the solera; the wine was disgorged in 2021 and finished with a dosage of 3g per liter. The bouquet is very refined out of the blocks, wafting from the glass in a mix of apple, white peach, patissière, beautiful chalky minerality, a touch of buttery oak, and a topnote of dried flowers. On the palate, the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused, and complex, with impeccable balance, elegant mousse, and lovely backend minerality and grip on the long, refined, and complex finish. This is my favorite of the single vineyard bottlings today, but this could change as each of them settles in with some bottle age. Fine, fine juice."
John Gilman, View From the Cellar |
