Champagne Gosset has launched its latest vintage. The year 2000 was an exceptional one; after being shaken by severe hailstorms in May and July, the Champagne vineyards regained their vigour with the arrival of perfect summer with warm and dry conditions, which extended right through to the harvest. A blend of 57 per cent Chardonnay and 43 per cent Pinot Noir, on first inspection it is clear, luminous and crystalline yellow gold spangled. An abundance of sparkling bubbles form a thin, yet steady and persistent flow.
On the nose it is delicate, elegant and rich with strong notes of deliciously ripe fruits such as mango, pineapple, lemon, molten honey and apricot and a gentle note of spring flowers like hawthorn, camomile and jasmine.
On tasting, it initially displays freshness, dominated by the majestic mark of the Chardonnay. There are lively and complex notes of the same pineapple, apricot and mango, but with a hint of hazelnut, and a pleasantly long and elegant finish. The wine’s consistency and richness is a sign of its maturity
The overall quality of the St Emilion and Pomerol wines is high in the Bordeaux 2010 vintage, but whether they are superior to 2009 is a something as yet undecided.
That is according to the critics of Decanter, the industry leading wine magazine who spent last week on the Right Bank and consider the majority of the wines fresh, acidic and very well structured.
But at this early stage they are wary of pronouncing the vintage greater than last year’s.
James Lawther MW said, “I get the impression these wines are more classic and will age longer – but we still have a long way to go.”
Lawther stressed this: the wines still have to be barrel aged, which will be critical. If too much oak is used the wines will lose their fine balance.
The full report will be out later this week.
Prosecco is getting ready to outperform Champagne in 2012 as leader in number of bottles produced. The announcement was made by the Veneto Region Councillors for Promotion Marino Finozzi and for Agriculture Franco Manzato at the inauguration of Vinitaly, at the Verona Trade Fair recently. The progress made by Prosecco in the competition with the French-made Champagne is clear-cut and persisting, as its average annual production is of around 320 million bottles.
This year, roughly 286 million bottles of Prosecco will be placed on the market and will be up to 353 million next year, exceeding 400 million bottles marketed world-wide by 2013.
