Home › Wine Notes › Gimonnet-Gonet
Gimonnet Gonet Millésime Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut 2011
Sparkling (Champagne)France2011
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2020-07-08 · Published 2026-09-30 · Updated 2026-09-30
At a glance
In one line
4.0/5 — lower than Vivino's 4.1 average · world avg price US$57, · A grower Champagne from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, founded in 1986 by the younger children of two Champagne families.
Wine-Searcher has no critic record for the 2011, and Vivino lists no critic score. The house's other Millésime cuvées aggregate at 90 (L'Identité), 89 (Terre du Mesnil) and 92 (Terre de Oiry) on Wine-Searcher.
Market note: Wine-Searcher shows neither retailers nor a world average for the 2011 (checked Sep 2026). Recent vintages of the house's Millésime appear in Europe at US$53.44–61.40 per 750ml (tax incl.) and in the US at US$80.99–84.99 (ex-tax).
Father's note — Daniel Min
Original author of the notes“기포가 짱짱해서 토스티함이 있긴하나 꼬숩은 깊은 맛은 떨어졌다. 하지만 좀 시간이 지나 마시니 오히려 기포가 사라지고 깊은 맛이 올라오는데 추천해주신분 얘기처럼 nutty 가 꽤 길게 간다. 내 핸들링의 실력이 떨어진 걸 수도. 포텐셜이 짱짱한 샴. 시간 지나 또 먹고 싶네요.”
Show original
“toast green apple citrus pear butter yeast brioche almond 기포가 짱짱해서 토스티함이 있긴하나 꼬숩은 깊은맛은 떨어졌다. 하지만 좀 시간이 지나 마시니 오히려 기포가 사라지고 깊은 맛이 올라오는데 추천해주신분 얘기처럼 nutty 가 꽤 길게 간다. 내 핸들링의 실력이 떨어진 걸수도~~^^ 포텐셜이 짱짱한 샴~~ 시간지나 또 먹고싶네요~~”
What I learned today: some flavours only show once the bubbles have gone.
Thursday. Master Seo lifted the bottle out of the ice bucket, dried it with a towel, and simply stood it on the counter. Tonight we don't keep it cold, he said. Pouring my flute half full, he added one more thing: drink half now and leave half. We'll look again in forty minutes.
The first sip was all bubbles. They prickled and burst on my tongue, and green apple, lemon and toasted crust rushed past. Forty minutes later I picked up the half I'd left. The bubbles had almost settled. Instead, toasted almond rose slowly and stayed a long time. That smell of almonds opened a hot July night.
Twenty-one, the second Wednesday night of July. In the kitchen, with the electric fan turning, Dad filled a big basin with ice and left the bottle in it for a long time. When he opened the cloth-wrapped bottle the bubbles rushed up almost over the rim. I'd had one sip when my phone rang, and I went to my room leaving the glass on the table. When I came back much later it was still there. I drank the glass, its bubbles mostly gone, and it was like a different wine. Like toasted almonds, I said, and Dad took my glass and had a sip. Then for a while he looked down at his own hands without a word. I don't know the name of the bottle.
I opened the notebook to that date. The bubbles were so firm that, though there was toast, the deeper flavour fell short, he wrote. As time passed and the bubbles faded, the depth came up. And then: "Maybe my handling skills fell short." A Champagne with great potential; he wanted to try it again after some time. Four stars. The bottle was Gimonnet Gonet Millésime Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru. I stuck on the wine-name Post-it. The hands Dad looked down at that night were the hands that had left the bottle on ice too long.
Minjae swirled his glass round and round to raise more bubbles and got told off by Master Seo. When it's cold, the aroma hides, Master Seo said — and that night your father blamed his own hands.
After closing, I wrote the name on the thirtieth page of the new notebook. In the aroma column: 'lemon at first, almonds forty minutes later'. What I learned today: some flavours only show once the bubbles have gone. And Dad's notes aren't only about bottles — sometimes they're about his own hands.
What this wine is
Champagne is full of grower families going back generations; Gimonnet and Gonet are both such names. In 1986, Anne Gonet and Philippe Gimonnet — younger children of their respective families — decided not to wait for a share of the family estates but to start a house of their own together. The British merchant Roberson Wine says they saw Champagne as 'much more than a job'. That is how the two surnames came to sit side by side.
The house is in the heart of the Côte des Blancs, in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, a Chardonnay village. It farms 13.5 hectares: Grand Cru parcels in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oiry, Cramant and Chouilly, plus vineyards in the Marne Valley, with vines around forty years old on average. No bought-in fruit is used — that is what 'Propriétaire-Récoltant' on the label means.
Their son Charles took over the vineyards in 2012, and in 2016 his twin sister Anne-Sophie, who had worked in Chablis cellars, joined as head winemaker. This 2011 was made by the parents' generation, before the handover. One Vivino reviewer listed 35-year-old vines, six months in steel, 36 months in bottle and a dosage of 5 g/l, but I couldn't confirm this from the producer.
What the world says
Wine-Searcher doesn't list the 2011, so there's neither a critic score nor a price. The house's other Millésime cuvées score 90 (L'Identité), 89 (Terre du Mesnil) and 92 (Terre de Oiry). Vivino has no critic score either.
On Vivino the 2011 averages 4.1 from 108 ratings: ten fives, 72 fours and 26 threes, with nothing below three. The label as a whole also averages 4.1, from 225. The suggested window is 2014–2023.
The aroma mentions run green apple and pear (26), toast, almond and brioche (24), citrus and lemon (17), butter (8) and yeast (6). Structure: fizz 4.2, acidity 4.0, intensity 3.6 — a straight-backed blanc de blancs, high in both bubbles and acidity.
"Good moursse alert integrated pleasant acidity with good length." — Vivino review, 2019, 4.5
How I drank it
July 8, 2020, 4 stars. I wrote down toast, green apple, citrus, pear, butter, yeast, brioche and almond.
At first the bubbles were so firm that, though there was toast, the rich, deep flavour fell short. But after a while the bubbles faded and the depth rose instead. Just as the person who recommended it said, the nutty note lasted quite a long time. I wrote that the early disappointment might have been my handling rather than the bottle. A Champagne with plenty of potential — I'd like to try it again after some time.
My 4 is almost the same as the Vivino average of 4.1. Drink a wine this high in fizz (4.2) and acidity (4.0) too cold and too soon, and the aroma closes up. The beginning and end of my note show exactly that difference. Two days later I gave Domaine des Bernardins Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 2018 a 4.
Vivino community data
2011 vintage rating distribution (108 ratings, average 4.1)
| 5★ | 10 (9%) | |
| 4★ | 72 (67%) | |
| 3★ | 26 (24%) | |
| 2★ | 0 (0%) | |
| 1★ | 0 (0%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Tree fruit | 26 | green apple 9 · pear 8 · apricot 2 · apricot jam 2 · peach 2 |
| Yeast & toast | 24 | toast 15 · almond 3 · brioche 3 · hazelnut 2 · nutty 1 |
| Citrus | 17 | citrus 8 · lemon 4 · grapefruit 2 · lime 1 · marmalade 1 |
| Oak | 8 | butter 6 · oak 1 · vanilla 1 |
| Aging & yeast | 6 | yeast 3 · bread yeast 1 · sourdough 1 · toasted bread 1 |
Structure: Acidity 4.0/5 · Intensity 3.6/5 · Fizziness 4.2/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 225 ratings, average 4.1)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 4.1 | 108 |
| 2012 | 4.1 | 41 |
Other wines Father scored 4.0 →
Read next
Swipe for more →
Similar styleEgly-Ouriet Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru 'Les Crayères' Ambonnay
France · Champagne★★★★★
Similar styleJacques Selosse Initial Blanc de Blancs Brut Grand Cru (Avize)
France · Champagne★★★★½
Similar stylePascal Doquet Cœur de Terroir Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Grand Cru 2006
France · Champagne★★★★½
Same grapeDomaine Leroy Bourgogne Aligoté 2014
France · Burgundy★★★★☆
Same grapeDomaine de la Pinte Trousseau Arbois 2018
France★★★★½
Same grapeFar Niente Chardonnay 2019
United States · Napa★★★★☆
Same grapeLucien Le Moine Meursault-Charmes Premier Cru 2018
France · Burgundy★★★★☆
Same grapeMaison Leroy Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Le Charmois Blanc 2002
France · Burgundy★★★★★
Same grapeBenoît Ente Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Clos de la Truffière 2018
France · Burgundy★★★½☆
Same grapeArnaud Ente Bourgogne Chardonnay 2015
France · Burgundy★★★★½
Same grapeDugat-Py Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes 2005
France · Burgundy★★★★☆
Same grapeMichel Noëllat Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots 2014
France · Burgundy★★★★☆More from Champagne, France
Swipe for more →
ChampagneJacques Selosse Lieux-dits Le Bout du Clos Ambonnay Grand Cru Extra Brut
★★★★★
ChampagneLouis Roederer Cristal Rosé Vinothèque 2008
★★★★★
ChampagneBillecart-Salmon Brut Rosé Champagne NV
★★★★½ChampagneEgly-Ouriet Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru 'Les Crayères' Ambonnay
★★★★★ChampagneJacques Selosse Initial Blanc de Blancs Brut Grand Cru (Avize)
★★★★½ChampagnePascal Doquet Cœur de Terroir Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Grand Cru 2006
★★★★½
ChampagnePol Roger Rosé Vintage 2009
★★★☆☆
ChampagneCharles Clément, Brut Rosé (NV)
★★★★☆
ChampagneDeutz, Brut Classic (NV)
★★★☆☆
ChampagneTaittinger, Brut Réserve (NV)
★★★★☆Explore
Bottles Father gave five stars
Only the wines Father scored a perfect 5
→
Wines in manga, film and history
Bottles that show up in manga, film and history
→
Wines you can buy at the supermarket
Wines actually bought at the supermarket
→Frequently asked questions
What kind of Champagne is Gimonnet Gonet Millésime Blanc de Blancs?
A vintage Champagne made only from Grand Cru Chardonnay by Gimonnet-Gonet, a grower house in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. The 2011 averages 4.1 on Vivino (108 ratings).
How much does it cost?
Not confirmed: Wine-Searcher doesn't list the 2011 vintage (checked Sep 2026). World averages for the house's recent Millésime cuvées are US$57–90 per 750ml.
What food goes with it?
The Vivino community suggests pork, shellfish, rich fish such as salmon and tuna, and mild soft cheese.
How cold should Champagne be served?
Too cold and the aroma closes up, leaving only the bubbles. With vintage Champagne, taking it out of the ice water and letting it warm a little in the glass brings out the nutty, toasty notes.
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Vivino — wine page and community data
- Roberson Wine — Gimonnet-Gonet
- Wine-Searcher — Gimonnet-Gonet search results
Read next
Swipe for more →
Similar styleEgly-Ouriet Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru 'Les Crayères' Ambonnay
France · Champagne★★★★★Similar styleJacques Selosse Initial Blanc de Blancs Brut Grand Cru (Avize)
France · Champagne★★★★½Same grapeDomaine Leroy Bourgogne Aligoté 2014
France · Burgundy★★★★☆Same grapeDomaine de la Pinte Trousseau Arbois 2018
France★★★★½Same grapeFar Niente Chardonnay 2019
United States · Napa★★★★☆Same grape