Philipponnat: 2017 Vins Clairs and new Clos des Goisses 2009

That said, on the whole Charles was much more positive about the harvest than the other houses we’d visited. “It is not as bad as 2001 and may be even better than 2011,” he said. We were told that the normal policy at Philipponnat is to carefully select which of the wines kept in stainless steel to put through malolactic fermentation and to never do malolactic fermentation on the wine in barrels. However, 2017 produced much higher levels of malic acid and, as no vintage was being made, Philipponnat decided to do malolactic fermentation on all of the wines in stainless steel vats. The Philipponnat Royale Réserve Brut NV with 2017 as a base year will therefore have much more malolactic fermentation than usual.

We began our vins clairs tasting with the best of the vintage: the Chardonnays. Remarkably, Charles informed us that Philipponnat did not find rotten grapes on any of their Chardonnay parcels. “The Chardonnays this year are at least as good as normal,” he said. Particular standouts were Grauves – a village which Charles says is “just as good as Le Mesnil”, and Clos des Goisses – which had a nose so impressively aromatic and floral that fellow guest Simon Stockton commented that it “could be worn as a perfume”.

Next, we tasted a selection of Pinot Noirs. The first, Venteuil, was the village most affected by botrytis in 2017. Unfortunately, this was quite evident when tasting the wine, which had a musty, mushroomy characteristic, which Charles referred to as a “veil of dust”. The second, Vertus, had been stirred with Chardonnay lees, in order to reduce the effects of botrytis. Charles told us that, in years that favour Chardonnay, Philipponnat frequently treat the less expressive Pinot Noirs with Chardonnay lees to add complexity and produce a cleaner wine. This was not only obvious in the lighter colour, but also in the delicate and more elegant palate of Vertus.

We finished our still wine tasting with a reserve wine, rosé and red wine. The reserve was last year’s Philipponnat Royale Réserve Brut NV blend – with 2016 as a base year. Once assemblage had been completed last year, the finished blend was put back into oak barrels for five months. “We like to put our reserves back into oak to keep them fresh,” Charles told us. “A touch of toast and minerality improves their ability to age.” All of this wine will eventually be used as reserve wine in the non-vintage; about 33% has gone into this year’s 2017 base year blend.

The rosé and red wine we sampled had been produced solely from grapes picked from loose bunches. “The loose bunches have longer stems, more air flow and therefore less botrytis,” Charles explained. This is apparently a result of planting a special selection of vines from Burgundy strains. “Everything we are planting recently is from Burgundy,” he added.

The rosé was produced using the saignée (bleeding) method. This involves allowing the grape must to remain in contain with the skins for a few hours, enriching the juice with colour and aromatic components, before ‘bleeding’ the juices off. Asked about the impressively deep colour of the red wine, Charles informed us that they concentrated the red by bleeding the must after 24-36 hours and then doing five days maceration before starting fermentation – allowing the intensity to come through in both the fruit and the colour. “The lees in the bottle will take out some of the harsher hints of pink, mellowing the tone,” he said.

Champagne

Charles generously concluded our visit by sharing a selection of finished champagnes. Interestingly, after tasting the first champagne – Blanc de Noirs 2011 – immediately after the Pinot Noir vins clairs, Charles stated that “2017 may be better than 2011 after tasting the still wines”. We were then shown a trial disgorgment of the next prestige cuvée release: Clos des Goisses 2009. An already stunningly rich and creamy champagne, Charles compared 2009 to 1989 and believes they will age similarly. Although lacking the bright acidity of its predecessor, Clos des Goisses 2008, this new release has a huge, generous fruit-forward character. It will be available at the end of the year.

We also tasted a bottle of the extremely rare Clos des Goisses Justé Rosé 2007. Charles told us that the rosé is produced by blending the Clos des Goisses blanc with red wine from the same year. However, Philipponnat do not produce a rosé in every Clos des Goisses vintage and when they do, just 2-3,000 bottles are typically produced, compared to the 25,000 bottle production for the blancs.

Finally, we tasted two of the house single-plot cuvées: Les Cintres, produced from the core parcels of Clos des Goisses (Les Grands Cintres and Les Petits Cintres); and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, produced from the very best parcels in the village. Both vintage 2008s, these are just the second ever creations of these exciting single-plot cuvées, to follow the first in 2006.

Speaking of Les Cintres, Charles said: “I normally describe Clos des Goisses as athletic but this is more like a Turkish wrestler!” He is not wrong – they are both huge champagnes that take some time to open up. Although not as approachable as the 2006s, these are much more complex and interesting and will undoubtedly last for years. As one may well expect, these are extremely rare. Not wanting to take too much away from the vintage champagnes, especially Clos des Goisses, Charles produces just 2,000 bottles – and each one is individually numbered.