Gimonnet Oenophile Extra Brut 2008
"Ok, this is the most personally exciting Champagne I have tasted in many years. Oenophile is the tiny “non dosé” bottling of Gimonnet’s Cuvée Fleuron which he makes only in top vintages as the archetype of the sum of his best Côte des Blancs vineyard holdings. I am NOT generally a big fan of Brut Nature wines as I usually feel that a modest 2-3 grams of sugar would have made the wine both more enjoyable and more interesting. In a great vintage like 2008, I clearly stand corrected by Didier Gimonnet and the Oenophile - which for the record I liked far more than the dosed Fleuron…"
Wine review by Wil Bailey
"Glorious Chardonnay from a dynamic and promising vintage and thus very capable as a non dosé, extra brut, this ŒNOPHILE may be labeled 1er Cru but this is perennially 80% and more Grand Cru -an admixture of Chouilly, Cramant, Cuis, and Oger.
Finishing off at a mere 1.5g/l residual sugar, this penetrating Blanc des Blancs is just right by nature with ample ripe Asian pear lending an exotic fragrance to complement a baked ginger spice, and rye tangerine -with great depth for this vintage debutante leading off into this world in its first blush -into a world with a growing suspicion of non dosé after years en vogue.
The non dosé star rose among the great restaurants for its clear taste of goût de terroir. After all: without dosage there's nothing to hide behind. Even so, despite what we read repeated in the press, when the sommeliers speak in private parlors the consensus heard is that this category's pendulum is on its return swing after some lean years left us wanting.
Gimonnet's ŒNOPHILE however proves how balanced years which marry beautifully ripened fruit with racy minerality can not only pull it off but are all the better non dosé. This is a treat and I look forward to tasting this over the next decade to see it come of age and wow us all into certainty that non dosé Champagne in the right year and right hands can age gloriously."
Wine review by Nicholas Livingston, November 20th, 2015 (Flower)
Expert Review
** Rating from Peter Liem's ChampagneGuide.net
"True to its vintage, this is racy and vibrant, thriving on its vivid energy and tension. There’s plenty of depth here, and a ripe richness of fruit, yet it still feels youthfully aggressive at the moment, dominated by its acidity. This bottle was disgorged in January of 2014, and I think the wine would benefit from several more years of lees aging, but regardless, aging of any sort will do this wine a lot of good. Last tasted: 3/14" -Peter Liem
