Goutorbe Special Club Grand Cru Brut 2012
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Generous aromas and flavors typical of Aÿ, presented in an elegant bottle.
Blend: 70% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay
Other Vintages
2008- Vinous
The Goutorbe family has been producing estate-bottled champagne in Aÿ since the late 1940s, but even before that they were already established as pépiniéristes, nurserymen for propagating vine cuttings. Emile Goutorbe established the nursery business just after the First World War, while he was the vineyard manager for Perrier-Jouët, and the success of this business eventually allowed him to purchase some parcels of vines in the area. His son Henri created the Goutorbe label, bottling and selling some champagne while continuing the nursery business.
In 1970, Henri’s son René took over the estate, expanding the vineyard holdings and enlarging and modernizing the winery. Today they own 25 hectares, a considerable quantity for a champagne grower, planted with 70 percent pinot noir, 27 percent chardonnay and three percent meunier. The jewel of Goutorbe’s vineyard holdings is their six hectares of Aÿ grand cru, although they also own vines in several other villages, including Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Bisseuil, Avenay Val d’Or and Hautvillers.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Associated with luxury, celebration, and romance, the region, Champagne, is home to the world’s most prized sparkling wine. In order to bear the label, ‘Champagne’, a sparkling wine must originate from this northeastern region of France—called Champagne—and adhere to strict quality standards. Made up of the three towns Reims, Épernay, and Aÿ, it was here that the traditional method of sparkling wine production was both invented and perfected, birthing a winemaking technique as well as a flavor profile that is now emulated worldwide.
Well-drained, limestone and chalky soil defines much of the region, which lend a mineral component to its wines. Champagne’s cold, continental climate promotes ample acidity in its grapes but weather differences from year to year can create significant variation between vintages. While vintage Champagnes are produced in exceptional years, non-vintage cuvées are produced annually from a blend of several years in order to produce Champagnes that maintain a consistent house style.
With nearly negligible exceptions, . These can be blended together or bottled as individual varietal Champagnes, depending on the final style of wine desired. Chardonnay, the only white variety, contributes freshness, elegance, lively acidity and notes of citrus, orchard fruit and white flowers. Pinot Noir and its relative Pinot Meunier, provide the backbone to many blends, adding structure, body and supple red fruit flavors. Wines with a large proportion of Pinot Meunier will be ready to drink earlier, while Pinot Noir contributes to longevity. Whether it is white or rosé, most Champagne is made from a blend of red and white grapes—and uniquely, rosé is often produce by blending together red and white wine. A Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay will be labeled as ‘blanc de blancs,’ while ones comprised of only red grapes are called ‘blanc de noirs.’