A Walk in the Vineyard with Chantal Gonet
In the middle of last month, I was on the second plane into France for vaccinated Americans with Kate Soto, Clyde and Trey Beffa. It was great to be back on the job in the cellars and tasting rooms of Champagne, but the highlight of the trip, under the June sun, was the time I got to spend in the vineyard. On the last day of the trip, Chantal Gonet of Champagne Philippe Gonet and Champagne Pierre Mineral took me for a visit to the crown jewel of their estate: Les Hauts Jardins.
This parcel, whose name means “the high gardens,” is immediately adjacent to Chantal’s mother’s house in the Grand Cru of Mesnil and was planted back in 1929; the vines just had their 92nd birthday. These vines are very, very old by any measure, but, this far north, where hard winter freezes kill vines around once a decade, they are all the rarer. They predate clonal material and are from an old massal selection, but their most interesting feature is one that I have never seen before in Champagne: some of them have been reproduced by marcotter or layering. Traveling to the region is so important—I never fail to learn something new each time I visit a vineyard! The arm of the vine descends once again into the soil, and eventually produces its own fruit. Because of this, this site is not only ancient and shy bearing, but also partially ungrafted.
This parcel produces the Philippe Gonet “Cuvée Belemnita” Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne, of which we currently carry the spectacular 2008 vintage. They can only make it when this small vineyard has enough fruit to fill up the press, and then Pierre and Chantal Gonet only choose to make it when it is great. The production is just 2700 bottles, and was only made four times during the decade of the 2000’s. At $149.99, this is a splurge wine that will sit at the table with absolutely any wine in the world.
The last time I drank it was with Chantal at Les Crayeres in Reims, and the combination of rich brioche on the nose and the almost salty Belemnita chalk that the wine was named after on the expansive finish is something I can still taste vividly now, 3 weeks later. The scale and power of the wine is all the more impressive because of how elegantly it presents itself: everything in balance, nothing sticking out, more Mesnil class than I feel like I deserve. This wine is a statement on the quality of the Grand Cru of Mesnil and worthy of tasting next to Salon and Krug Clos du Mesnil. It will not disappoint you.
A toast to you!
- Gary Westby, Champagne Buyer