Gonet-Medeville : Ambonnay Cuvée Athénaïs 2018

Characteristics and tasting tips for the Ambonnay Cuvée "Athénaïs" 2018 by Gonet-Medeville

Tasting

Colour
The wine displays a beautiful intensity, dense and brilliant, with deep ruby hues evolving towards garnet.

Nose
The bouquet reveals great complexity, blending aromas of ripe cherry with autumnal notes of undergrowth and dead leaves. The whole is underscored by subtle touches of sweet spices and delicately integrated oak.

Palate
Ample and generous, the palate offers ripe fruit supported by tender, silky tannins. A lovely freshness, so typical of Champagne, carries the wine through to a long, smooth and elegant finish.

Food and wine pairings

This red wine pairs beautifully with flavourful white meats such as roast quail, poultry with wild mushrooms or delicately prepared veal. It is also an excellent match for fine charcuterie and soft cheeses such as a well-aged Brie.

Serving and cellaring

For optimal enjoyment, this wine is best served at around 14 to 15°C, after decanting for an hour. This vintage can be enjoyed now but will continue to develop favourably until around 2035.

The richness and singularity of a Coteaux Champenois Pinot Noir

The estate

Founded in 2000 by Xavier Gonet and Julie Médeville, the current owners, the Gonet-Medeville house is located in Bisseuil, in the heart of Champagne. Born of the union of two winemaking families, one from Champagne and the other from Bordeaux, the estate farms around 12 hectares of vines spread across prestigious terroirs. Recognised as a rising star in the region, the house stands out for its artisanal approach, favouring barrel vinification and low yields to craft wines that combine power, elegance and a pure expression of terroir.

The vineyard

This Coteaux Champenois wine comes from a tiny plot of just 0.30 hectares in the Ambonnay Grand Cru. The vines thrive on a terroir composed exclusively of chalk. The vineyard is managed with great rigour, with very low yields limited to 30 hl/ha and hand harvesting to guarantee optimal grape quality.

The vintage

2018 was marked by particularly hot and sunny weather. These sun-drenched conditions allowed the grapes to reach high levels of ripeness while delivering generous yields across the region, although the estate chose to keep them strictly under control for this cuvée.

Vinification and ageing

80% of the grapes are destemmed before being placed in vats, where punching down is carried out. Unlike the house's usual practice, both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation take place in barrels. The wine is then aged for twelve months in oak casks, 30% of them new, before being bottled twenty months after the harvest, without any filtration.

Grape variety

100% Pinot Noir