2008 Pierre Gimonnet Cuvee Gastronome

(aged for 48 months on its lees and disgorged in May, 2013): Green-tinged yellow. Sexy, expansive aromas of poached pear, melon, and peach pit, with smoke and anise notes adding complexity. Spicy, sharply focused orchard and citrus fruit flavors show excellent concentration and pick up a floral nuance with air. Shows a refreshingly bitter quality on the finish, which lingers with impressive, smoky tenacity.

This latest instantiation of what has become his signature blend, featuring lower-than-standard pressure, Gimonnet’s 2008 Brut Blanc de Blancs Cuvee Gastronome reflects a wide range of sites, more than half in (grand cru-rated) Chouilly and Oger. Stalk celery and cucumber, crabapple and lemon combine for an at once briskly refreshing and metaphorically cooling performance, wreathed in bittersweet perfume of iris and tinged with saliva-liberating salinity that renders a long, caressing finish compulsively next-sip-inducing. Pierre Gimonnet farms nearly 70 prime acres – overwhelmingly in the Cote des Blancs – which are reflected in a similarly enormous range of different cuvees, most of them represented in the U.S. market in any given year and tasted by me for this report. What’s more, future expansion of official Champagne acreage around Cramant and Chouilly will offer Gimonnet opportunity to broaden his vine footprint. Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

(disgorged January 18, 2012): Bright straw. Intense pear and nectarine aromas are brightened by notes of lemon zest, chalky minerals and ginger, with a leesy quality gaining power with air. Tangy and bright on entry, then fleshier in the mid-palate, offering spicy citrus and orchard fruit flavors and a touch of anise. Finishes zesty and long, with lingering mineral notes and impressive stony cut.