"Didier Gimonnet’s aspiration for his entry non-vintage is a cuvée with attack on the front, roundness in the middle and crispness on the end. This cuvée is his first priority. ‘I can only produce other cuvées if I take what I need for the non-vintage first,’ he says. Gimonnet’s Cuis is the quintessential apéritif, and one of the most pristine champagnes for its price. The north-facing elegance of this bright premier cru infuses freshness and purity of lemon, grapefruit and crunchy nashi pear. The ripe and structured 2015 base adds a hint of pineapple core and lends its grip of phenolic mouthfeel, yet this has been well moderated by Gimonnet’s precision engineering, to let the fine salt chalk minerality of the village sing in harmony with crystalline acidity. Bottle age has built seamless texture without yet contributing secondary complexity, besides a fleeting glimpse of brioche. Dosage is well integrated with vibrant acidity, laying out a tense, bright and long finish. As ever, this is signature Cuis, classic Gimonnet and great value champagne."

The champagnes of Pierre Gimonnet & Fils are intricately assembled by masterful hands exclusively from enviably positioned and painstakingly tended old vines. Every cuvée sings its aspiration of 'precision, purity and minerality', each speaking articulately of its place in the northern Côte des Blancs through expressive, chalky minerality, without one molecule of detail out of place. With high-strung tension, crystalline structure and rapier-sharp precision, these are blanc de blancs champagnes charged with an energy that will sustain them long indeed. They represent some of the best-value apéritif champagnes of all.