From: Côte des Blancs, Champagne, France
Blend: 100% Chardonnay (Blanc de Blancs)

Taste & Critical Acclaim: Pierre Gimonnet’s 2017 Cuvee Fleuron is ridiculously good right now. With aging capability and already developed generous textures and flavors, it’s the best of all worlds. Frankly, I’d say that this particular vintage is especially beloved in certain wine circles where this shows as an impressive, standout champagne for palates who look for nuance, subtlety, and class.

In the glass, captivating, exotic aromas of satsumas, calamansi, starfruit, apple blossom, and Japanese honey toast open to wildflower blossoms, lemon meringue, orange, and citrus cream that rides on oceanic, rocky shore notes. Those exotic fruits and spice notes meet honeyed Perry and Asian pear in a seamless sphere of elegance. The palate shows off generous fruit that’s not over the top; it’s just perfectly balanced and already shows itself as a complete whole. While this champagne's unfolding floral, fruit, and spice components are noteworthy, the racy, oceanic, rocky mineral wave this wine rides upon is poignant and leaves a lasting impression— and empty glasses waiting with anticipation to be refilled.

On this cuvée. Fleuron is Gimonnet's first vintage cuvée, made only when they considered that the quality of the vintage made it possible to make a single vintage release - no need to include reserve wines to achieve balance. It is a Blanc de Blancs that combines the qualities of multiple terroirs and “lieu-dits” of the estate - all the best produced that year.

Champagne Pierre Gimonnet et Fils: Whispering and crooning in a silvery world
By Terry Theise
February 4, 2023, updated June 7, 2023 9:38am

Fleuron, 1er Cru, Brut 2017 ++
The “regular” vintage wine; 72% Grand Cru, 28% 1er Cru, disg. 10/18/2021
It’s the exotic in the range, all Satsuma and persimmon and a curious sort of floweriness that presents as lychee and rose, but not exactly the way Gewürztraminer does.
The best way to say this is, it’s a kick-ass vintage of Fleuron. The aromas do not prepare you for the swollen attack on the palate. But it isn’t aggressive, just generous and extroverted and tangible.
Didier has reached a point in life where his grown kids are working at his side, and you can imagine what that’s like. Relief: they’re here. Tact: they have to find their own ways and try their own ideas. Pride: But the old man has a few more tricks up his sleeve. I mean, how could anyone drink this Champagne and think “Well that needs to change…?’
I find it moving, when you taste from an estate that is clearly in-the-zone, but what seems clear now is a through-line from Belles Année to here, as if this wine is the older sibling of that one. It has the element chefs call “caramelization,” when a Maillard reaction occurs (as best I understand it), and it also has actual fruit, apricot, and plum.
In the end it has a thing I can only describe as an ether of honey. It’s spicier and more vertical from Juhlin 2.0, and I could imagine if you had it from, say, a Jamasse glass it would be like a potion of malt. (If this seems geeky to you, the question of what’s the “proper” glass for Champagne remains debated, and no consensus has emerged. The “Jamasse” glass was crafted by the sommelier at the Crayères in Reims, and its effect is to flatter whatever’s served in it.)

JS 94 James Suckling
"A stunningly vibrant Blanc de Blancs that could easily pass as Extra Brut. Excellent interplay of lemon freshness, creaminess and racy acidity on the elegant palate. The long and expressive finish makes me think of waves crashing over a rocky shoreline! A cuvee based on wines from the Grand Cru villages of Chouilly (44%), Cramant (24%) and Oger (5%), but because base wines from the 1er Cru villages are present – Cuis (21%) and Vertus (6%) – it only qualifies for the 1er Cru designation. Drink or hold.”

Wine Spectator WS 92
Racy and linear, with a fine, lively mousse and a minerally overtone of smoke and saline layered with creamed pear, lemon curd and poached apricot. A subtle underpinning of almond paste and pastry cream emerges to enrich the finish. Disgorged October 2021. Best after 2023.
November 30, 2022

Pairing: This timeless champagne will be a hit at any indulgent moment, be it a dinner party, romantic night in, or evening to treat yourself. Because this elegant bubbly carries freshness, richness, and minerality, you’ve got many options for food pairings. Some ideas include soft shell crab (check out the recipe below), honey walnut prawns, silken tofu with mild curry, vegetarian mandu, roasted chicken with white wine sauce, pork chops with apple butter, sautéed scallops with citrus and brown butter, flatbreads with excellent olive oil bases, garlic and butter combinations as pasta, bread, grains, etc. Of course, fried foods are wonderful with champagne, and if you decide to go this pairing route, many successful “high/low” matches create magic. Chicken nuggets with honey mustard or sweet and sour sauce, chicken, corn, or squash blossom empanadas, Korean fried chicken, fried apple pie with vanilla ice cream, crunchy fries dipped in vanilla ice cream, and the classic fish and chips or crab/fish cakes.

Soft-Shell Crab With Preserved Lemon and Almonds
By David Tanis

About: Since before 1750, the Gimonnet family has been tending to vineyards in the premier cru village of Cuis in the Côte des Blancs. They supplied the great Champagne houses with grapes up until the 1930s when grape sales fell during the prolonged recession of the period. Monsieur Pierre Gimonnet finally decided to take up the challenge of vinifying and commercializing his own harvest. It was a great struggle at first to establish a clientele who were not, at that time, accustomed to "Blanc de Blancs" Champagnes, not least from a new and small independent producer.

Pierre Gimonnet built this reputation from the ground up, based on his exceptional vineyard, his half a century of experience, and the uncompromising standards that he imposed upon himself. In the tradition of all great winemakers, Gimonnet sought to limit the production of grapes in search of quality from the beginning.

The estate is now run by Olivier and Didier, who share Pierre’s fanaticism. Over the years, the family added to their holdings in Cuis, acquiring other Premier and Grand Cru vineyards in the Côte de Blancs. Today, the estate’s 29.4 hectares are located in Cuis, Chouilly (including 3 hectares of ‘Montaigu’, planted in 1951), Cramant  (since 1958, coming in large part from Olivier & Didier’s mother, née Larmandier), Oger (since 2005), and Vertus (since 2008).