Special Offer Price - $149.95 per bottle with code MESNIL08
A perennial candidate for best-of-category value among grower tête de cuvées, here the elevating effect of 2008 lifts expressivity well beyond its usual standard. Usually we talk of a vintage framing a wine but the reverse is truer here. Gonet’s oxidative style coordinates 2008’s bright, buoyant energy more purposefully than all but a handful of wines this year.
The Gonet style reminds me a bit of the brothers Minière, both estates using barreled élévage and blocked malolactic to high aesthetic effect. At Gonet, no-malo freshness and rich oxidative details achieve authentic stylistic uniqueness. You feel this across the range but nowhere as assertively as here.
The domaine farms just under half a hectare in ‘Champ d’Alouette,’ a perfect mid-slope parcel just south of Le Mesnil. Old vines and hard pruning help account for the wine's flavory charm but also keep production well below 1,000 bottles per vintage.
The 2008 ‘Champ d’Alouette’ leads with starbright notes of citrus rind and ginger alongside subtler suggestions of smoke and almond. As the fruit relaxes into the wine Mesnil chalk rushes in to fill the space. The nose wanders fascinatingly across the evening: grilled herbs, Crème Anglaise, jasmine.
In an average growing season this constitutes a steal; this year it’s a wine for stashing what you can while you can.
Cheers,
Jason
