Pierre Gimonnet Fleuron Blanc de Blancs Brut 2009
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Wong
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Robert
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2009 Pierre Gimonnet & Fils Cuvée Fleuron Champagne is outstanding and satisfies all palates. You can pull the cork for a wine geek who loves minerality as easily as you can pour a glass for a neophyte wine imbiber who enjoys lots of ripe fruit. The wine's completeness puts it in a class by itself. Drinks well now. (Tasted: October 17, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a serious wine, with its mineral texture and tangy structure. It has plenty of apple and zingy orange flavors. But the main thrust at this stage is of a wine poised for considerable aging. Fresh and still tight, it needs several years. Drink from 2018.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Fleuron Brut 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs is sourced from vineyards in Chouilly and Cramant, and aged for four years on the lees. Disgorged in January 2015 with 4.5 grams per liter of dosage, this sample displays a precise, pure and fresh bouquet with some nutty flavors that migrate to a quite deep and rich, very elegant, fresh and well-structured taste with precise fruit aromas. This is still the fresh and mineral Gimonnet style, but with more intensity and complexity in the finish than the non-vintage cuvées. "Due to the dry August and September, we had to wait long to get the physiological ripeness in 2009," says Didier Gimonnet.
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Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Associated with luxury, celebration, and romance, the region, Champagne, is home to the world’s most prized sparkling wine. In order to bear the label, ‘Champagne’, a sparkling wine must originate from this northeastern region of France—called Champagne—and adhere to strict quality standards. Made up of the three towns Reims, Épernay, and Aÿ, it was here that the traditional method of sparkling wine production was both invented and perfected, birthing a winemaking technique as well as a flavor profile that is now emulated worldwide.
Well-drained, limestone and chalky soil defines much of the region, which lend a mineral component to its wines. Champagne’s cold, continental climate promotes ample acidity in its grapes but weather differences from year to year can create significant variation between vintages. While vintage Champagnes are produced in exceptional years, non-vintage cuvées are produced annually from a blend of several years in order to produce Champagnes that maintain a consistent house style.
With nearly negligible exceptions, . These can be blended together or bottled as individual varietal Champagnes, depending on the final style of wine desired. Chardonnay, the only white variety, contributes freshness, elegance, lively acidity and notes of citrus, orchard fruit and white flowers. Pinot Noir and its relative Pinot Meunier, provide the backbone to many blends, adding structure, body and supple red fruit flavors. Wines with a large proportion of Pinot Meunier will be ready to drink earlier, while Pinot Noir contributes to longevity. Whether it is white or rosé, most Champagne is made from a blend of red and white grapes—and uniquely, rosé is often produce by blending together red and white wine. A Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay will be labeled as ‘blanc de blancs,’ while ones comprised of only red grapes are called ‘blanc de noirs.’