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Jacques Selosse Lieux-dits Le Bout du Clos Ambonnay Grand Cru Extra Brut
SparklingFranceNV
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2024-10-06 · Published 2026-09-30 · Updated 2026-09-30
At a glance
In one line
5.0/5 — higher than Vivino's 4.6 average · world avg price US$791 · Anselme Selosse brought Burgundy-style barrel fermentation to Champagne.
Wine-Searcher aggregates 95 across 14 critic reviews; 37 users average 4.5. Vivino lists 12 critic scores from 89 to 98 (Dec 2008 – Aug 2019), without publication names.
Market note: World average US$791 / 750ml (Wine-Searcher, ex-tax, Sep 2026). No overseas sellers confirmed (Sep 2026). The other five Lieux-dits: Aÿ La Côte Faron US$756, Mareuil-sur-Aÿ Sous le Mont US$769, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Les Carelles US$810, Cramant Chemin de Châlons US$1,056, Avize Les Chantereines US$1,064 (all Wine-Searcher averages). The house's Initial is US$587.
Father's note — Daniel Min
Original author of the notes“자크 셀로스 특유의 숙성향이 데골 2021인데도 처음부터 나기 시작한다. … 시간에 따라 계속 변하는 너무 재밌는 샴에 후반부에 갑자기 전환되어 바뀌는 산미가 가슴부터 목 끝까지 채우지만 더 이상 찌르지 않게 꽉 차게 느껴진다. 고급스런 산미는 이런 거구나를 다시 체감했다. - 디캔팅해가며 천천히 즐김. 6개 밭 중 앙보네 밭은 이렇다. 를 말해주는 이번 리외디 시리즈, 다른 시리즈도 너무 궁금하다. 소믈리에 얘기로는 최근 수르몽이 평이 좋다고 한다. 메닐 쉬르 오제는 구하기 힘들고.”
Show original
“작셀 특유의 숙성향이 데골 2021인데도 첨부터 나기 시작한다. […] 시간에 따라 계속 변하는 너무 재밌는 샴에 후반부에 갑자기 전환되어 바뀌는 산미가 가슴부터 목끝까지 채우지만 더이상 찌르지 않게 꽉차게 느껴진다. 고급스런 산미는 이런거구나..를 다시 체감했다. - 디캔팅해가며 천천히 즐김... 6개 밭 중 앙보네 받은 이렇다.. 를 말해주는 이번 리외디 시리즈, 다른 시리즈도 너무 궁금하다.소믈리에 얘기로는 최근 수르몽이 평이 좋다고 한다. 메닐쉬르오제는 구하기 힘들고^^”
In the scent column: 'baked apple, brioche, walnut, caramel → apricot → at the end, acidity from chest to throat.' For the first time I drew three columns for time.
Monday. Master Seo opened a bottle of champagne and poured it slowly — not into a glass, but into a decanter. The foam climbed the glass walls and settled. I was about to ask why he'd pour champagne into that, but he spoke first. 'With this house, time is the taste. I'll pour you a little at a time for an hour. Write down what changes.'
The first glass was baked apple, brioche, walnut, honey, and caramel. A little something like smoke. Thirty minutes later, in the second glass, the apple had turned to apricot. Near the hour, when I held the last glass in my mouth, the acidity suddenly shifted places. It rose from my chest to the top of my throat, and didn't sting at all. Without meaning to, I pressed my palm to my chest and drew it up to my throat. That gesture opened the front door on an October night when I was twenty-six.
Twenty-six, the first Sunday night in October. The front door opened and Dad came in. Before even taking off his shoes he called me over, pressed his palm to his chest and slowly drew it up to his throat. The acidity filled me from here to here. And it didn't sting one bit. The champagne kept changing as time went on, which was fun, he said. Then he hummed as he took off his shoes. I wasn't there, and I never saw the bottle. I don't know its name. I only remember Dad's palm under the hallway light. The rosé talk at Mum's dressing table came after that.
The first line of that day in the notebook — the same night as page fifty-four, which I read yesterday. The house's signature aged aroma was there from the start. A champagne that kept changing with time; late on, a sudden shift in acidity filled him from chest to the end of his throat. 'So this is what refined acidity is.' He drank it slowly, decanting as he went, and wrote that it told him what the Ambonnay plot of the six was like. He was curious about the other five. Five stars. The bottle was Jacques Selosse Lieux-dits Le Bout du Clos, Ambonnay. I stuck on the wine-name Post-it. Turning back, I found the same house's name on page twenty-six — the page of the leaven smell at Mum's bakery. Probably Dad raised his palm before his shoes in the hallway because that acidity was still at the top of his throat.
As the decanter was running low, Minjae came in, saw it, and yelled.
After closing, page fifty-five of the new notebook. In the scent column: 'baked apple, brioche, walnut, caramel → apricot → at the end, acidity from chest to throat.' For the first time I drew three columns for time.
What this wine is
Jacques Selosse is a grower in Avize, a grand cru village of the Côte des Blancs. The man who transformed the house was the son, Anselme. RareWineCo and Wine with Seth say he took over his father's domaine in 1974 (the source quoted in my Initial note gives 1980). Anselme trained in Burgundy in the 1970s and brought its methods back to Champagne. All base wines ferment with native yeasts in 228-litre Burgundy barrels (Wine with Seth). While most champagne houses blended many villages for a consistent taste, he went the other way, toward the differences between plots. Since he retired in 2018, his son Guillaume has run the estate.
A 'lieu-dit' is a small named plot. Selosse's Lieux-dits series bottles six plots in six villages separately: Avize Les Chantereines, Cramant Chemin de Châlons and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Les Carelles (Chardonnay), and Ambonnay Le Bout du Clos, Mareuil-sur-Aÿ Sous le Mont and Aÿ La Côte Faron (Pinot Noir-led). Each is run as a small solera, topped up with new wine every year, so several years share one bottle (RareWineCo). They age five years before release, with dosage of 0–4 g/l.
Le Bout du Clos is a south-facing slope in Ambonnay, planted 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay (Les Passionnés du Vin). The name means 'the end of the walled plot'. Ambonnay is a Pinot Noir grand cru village on the southern side of the Montagne de Reims.
What the world says
On Wine-Searcher it aggregates 95 across 14 critic reviews. The 12 critic scores on Vivino range from 89 to 98 (Dec 2008 – Aug 2019), without publication names. Because disgorgement dates vary from bottle to bottle, the range is wide.
On Vivino it averages 4.6 from 1,518 ratings: 691 fives, 759 fours, 60 threes, one two and seven ones. With no vintage on the label, there's no suggested drinking window.
"A lieu-dit blending Pinot Noir with 20% Chardonnay. The complexity is off the scale." — Vivino review, Jul 2023, 4.9 stars
Tree fruit such as apple (32), apricot and pear (73) leads the keywords, followed by earthy notes such as honey (21), minerals (21) and smoke (70 in all); brioche, almond, toast and walnut (59); citrus (37); and caramel (9), oak and butter (31). Structure shows intensity 4.2, acidity 4.2 and fizziness 4.1.
The world average is US$791 / 750ml (Wine-Searcher, ex-tax, Sep 2026). No overseas sellers were found. Among the six Lieux-dits, Ambonnay sits mid-range.
How I drank it
October 6, 2024, 5 stars. I logged five lines that day, and this was the first. After it came Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault-Charmes Premier Cru 2018 (4.5), Château La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc 2018 (4), Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque 2018 (4.5) and Cristal Rosé 2008 (5).
Though disgorged in 2021, it showed the house's signature aged aroma from the start. It kept changing with time, and late on the acidity suddenly shifted and filled me from the chest to the end of the throat — yet it no longer stung; it felt full. I was reminded again what refined acidity is. We drank it slowly, decanting as we went.
It told me what 'Ambonnay' is among the six plots, so now I was curious about the other five. The sommelier said Sous le Mont had been getting good reviews lately, and that Le Mesnil-sur-Oger (Les Carelles) is hard to find. My 5 is 0.4 above Vivino's 4.6. Before this, I'd given Selosse's Initial 4.5.
Vivino community data
NV vintage rating distribution (1518 ratings, average 4.6)
| 5★ | 691 (46%) | |
| 4★ | 759 (50%) | |
| 3★ | 60 (4%) | |
| 2★ | 1 (0%) | |
| 1★ | 7 (0%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Tree fruit | 73 | apple 32 · apricot 10 · pear 10 · peach 7 · green apple 4 |
| Earth & leather | 70 | honey 21 · minerals 21 · smoke 11 · mushroom 5 · salt 3 |
| Bread & nuts | 59 | brioche 14 · almond 8 · toast 8 · nutty 6 · walnut 6 |
| Citrus | 37 | citrus 18 · lemon 6 · orange 4 · grapefruit 3 · orange peel 3 |
| Oak | 31 | caramel 9 · oak 8 · butter 6 · clove 2 · toffee 2 |
Structure: Acidity 4.2/5 · Intensity 4.2/5 · Fizziness 4.1/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 1518 ratings, average 4.6)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|
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→Frequently asked questions
What kind of champagne is Le Bout du Clos?
An Extra Brut made by Jacques Selosse from a single south-facing plot in Ambonnay, 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay. One of the six Lieux-dits wines, each blended across years as a small solera. Vivino 4.6 (1,518 ratings), Wine-Searcher 95.
How much does it cost?
Wine-Searcher's world average is US$791 per 750ml (ex-tax, Sep 2026). No overseas sellers were found.
What food goes with it?
The Vivino community suggests pork, shellfish, rich fish and mild soft cheese. One reviewer says it must be paired with food.
Can you decant champagne?
You lose some bubbles but the aromas open up. Powerful, barrel-fermented champagnes like Selosse are often decanted or poured into large white-wine glasses and given time. I drank this one slowly, decanting as I went.
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Vivino — wine page and community data
- RareWineCo — Jacques Selosse tech sheet
- Wine with Seth — Jacques Selosse
- Wine Anorak — The six Lieux-dits Champagnes from Selosse
- Les Passionnés du Vin — Selosse Le Bout du Clos
- Wine-Searcher — Jacques Selosse Lieux-dits 'Le Bout du Clos' Ambonnay
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