NV Gonet-Médeville Blanc de Noirs 1er Cru

Useful, and well-presented, information on the back label of this single-estate champagne. 100% Pinot Noir mainly from Bisseuil with 10% from Ambonnay. The base is 2016 with 20% reserve wines. It was bottled in April 2017 and disgorged in February 2020, so a decent period on lees. Dosage 5 g/l. No malo and a bit of oak is employed here. Very deep bronzey gold. Is there some Pinot pigment? Well balanced and satisfying for the money. Quite rich underneath without being sickly sweet and the acidity is very mild; I would not have guessed this had the malo suppressed. Comfortable rather than tight and tense. Complete enough to serve with food. Of course it would be quite a bit chea[per if bought as part of a mixed case but even at the single-bottle price it seems quite GV . (JR)

Disgorged in July 2018, the new release of Gonet-Medeville's NV Brut Premier Cru Blanc de Noirs is showing very well, offering up an appealing bouquet of crisp golden orchard fruit, honeycomb, warm biscuits and dried white flowers. On the palate, it's full-bodied, broad and vinous, with ripe but racy acids, good depth at the core and a delicate mousse. Concentrated and structured, another year on the cork will be rewarded by additional complexity, even though this is approachable now.

A Gonet-Medeville NV Brut Blanc de Noirs Disg. 6/2012 issues entirely from Pinot in Bisseuil vineyards. Its heady nose of gentian and wisteria, apple and white peach, toasty lees and yeast is highly enticing. But I found little of the succulence of fruit that rendered the corresponding Cuvee Tradition so appealing, nor the sort of complexity that seemed to be promised on the nose. That said, plenty of surface polish is evidenced, as well as subtly fruity and floral appeal all the way through a satisfyingly sustained finish. I last visited Gonet-Medeville only several years after its 2000 founding by young Xavier Gonet of Le Mesnil and his wife Julie Medeville, whose family owns Chateau Gilette and its affiliates in Sauternes and Graves. Their enthusiasm and ambition were infectious; their attention to detail obvious and impressive; and their vineyards – now spread among Le Mesnil, Ambonnay, Bisseuil, Trepail, and Mareuil – are all grand or premier cru-rated. So I was a tad disappointed that the five wines I most recently sampled did not scale greater heights. Still, they made a fine show, and this is a grower well worth watching. (An outstanding, cask-raised Extra Brut Rose was among my two favorites in this group – brightly brimming with salt- and chalk-tinged fresh tomato and red currant, and perfectly balanced at just 3 grams of sugar – but as there was neither a lot designation nor a disgorgement date on the label or bottle, I have refrained from publishing a complete tasting note or a rating of it.) Imported by Martine's Wines, Inc., Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400