Guillaume Selosse

History of Champagne Guillaume Selosse

The adventure begins in Avize, at the heart of the Côte des Blancs, when Jacques Selosse founded his estate after the Second World War. In 1974, his son Anselme, trained in Beaune and steeped in Burgundian culture, took over the reins and overturned the Champenois codes. Convinced that a great fine wine must first be a great fine wine, he introduced fermentation in oak barrels, long and slightly oxidative ageing, low yields, reduced dosages and the principle of the perpetual reserve. Within a few decades, he made the house one of the most influential estates in France and one of the leading figures of grower champagne.

Guillaume grew up in this world. At eighteen, his grandmother gave him a tiny plot of very old chardonnays on the heights between Avize and Cramant. It is from there that, starting with the 2009 vintage, his first personal cuvée, Au Dessus du Gros Mont, was born. In 2012, he launched a second cuvée, Largillier, in partnership with Aube winegrower Jérôme Coessens. These two wines, produced in infinitesimal quantities, earned him an almost immediate cult status among collectors. Having joined the family estate around 2009 and become fully involved from 2011, he took over its direction in 2018 upon Anselme's retirement. Since then, he has refocused his energy on the house in Avize, to the point of progressively putting his personal cuvées into slumber, making them even rarer.

Terroirs and Vines of Champagne Guillaume Selosse

Guillaume Selosse's personal plot, Au Dessus du Gros Mont, measures only a few ares, on the upper slope at the boundary between Avize and Cramant. Its distinguishing feature lies in its double exposure: one part faces south and captures the light, the other faces north and retains a cooler microclimate, giving the wine a rare balance between ripeness and tension. Largillier, at the geographical opposite, comes from a 3.37-hectare monopole located at Ville-sur-Arce, in the Côte des Bar, planted with pinot noirs over forty-five years old facing south, on clay-limestone soils resting on Kimmeridgian chalk, the same as that of Chablis. Throughout, the management of the vineyard favours observation, controlled yields, living soils and a harvest at full ripeness.

Winemaking at Champagne Guillaume Selosse

The cellar applies a method as coherent as it is demanding. The juices ferment in oak barrels and large oak casks, with only indigenous yeasts, without any inoculation or correction. The ageing is long, on fine lees, with stirring decided through tasting, and an intentionally oxidative management of oxygen that builds the wine's texture and aromatic complexity rather than protecting it excessively. The wines are neither fined nor filtered, and sulphur is used with extreme parsimony.

The house's signature lies in its use of the perpetual reserve, a system inspired by the solera of Sherry wines, introduced as early as 1986 for the Substance cuvée and since extended to several wines in the range. Each year, a fraction is drawn off for bottling and replaced by wine from the new vintage, giving these Champagnes a depth and continuity impossible to achieve otherwise. The bottling is carried out at the full moon closest to the summer solstice, a choice arising from many years of observation. Dosages remain very low, most often extra-brut. For his personal cuvées, Guillaume Selosse pushes the ageing even further, with up to three or four years on fine lees in barrel before even bottling, an approach justified by the very low pH acidity and the incisive profile of his grapes.

The Cuvées of Champagne Guillaume Selosse

Au Dessus du Gros Mont: the first cuvée signed by Guillaume Selosse, born from the 2009 vintage, sourced from very old chardonnays planted on the heights between Avize and Cramant, on a plot of a few ares given to him by his grandmother. The double south and north exposure yields a wine of remarkable depth and balance, between solar power and chalky freshness. Production does not exceed around fifty cases per harvest, making it one of the great cult wines of Champagne.

Largillier: blanc de noirs 100% pinot noir born in 2012, sourced from the monopole of the same name at Ville-sur-Arce, in the Côte des Bar, worked with winegrower Jérôme Coessens. The vines, over forty-five years old, reach down into clay-limestone soils on Kimmeridgian chalk. After three to four years of ageing on fine lees before disgorgement, the wine unfolds a deep bouquet of roasted nuts, dried fruits, mandarin zest and spices, on a flamboyant and textured palate supported by a biting acidity. A production of approximately 300 cases, of which the latest blends, based on 2021 with reserves from 2020 and 2019, close the chapter on this cuvée.