Based on the regular Clos des Goisses the 2006 Clos des Goisses Brut gets its very light but fascinating apricot color by blending in 5% or 6% of red Goisses wine. Highly delicate and fruity on the palate, with lovely fruit and delicate iodine and chalky flavors, this is a fascinatingly round and delicate Rosé that reveals an intense and lovely fruity finish. Everything here is highly finessed, round, rich but pure and mineral. "2006 was a pleasant, very easy and beautifully fruity vintage, similar to 2004 but more fruity than floral." Disgorged in February 2017. 2,220 bottles made. Tasted April 2018.

In April this year, on a very sunny early morning and after a memorable tasting at Jacques Lassaigne in the far south, I had a fantastic tasting with Charles Philipponnat and Antoine de Boysson, his commercial director. Sixteen cuvées instead of breakfast was a great start to the day, the more so since I had a trilogy of the famous, south-facing, 30% to 45% steep Clos des Goisses (2007 to 2009), the rare but adorable 2006 and 2007 (!) Clos des Goisses Just Rosé and the 2008 Les Cintres, the second vintage of the single-plot cuvées. A 100% oak-fermented Pinot Noir from the central part of the Clos des Goisses, the 2008 Les Cintres is not only the most impressive one of this group but also one of the finest Champagnes I have had this spring. The 2008 Mareuil-sur-Aÿ is also an outstanding Pinot Noir, though I did not taste the 2006 Le Léon, which is also crafted exclusively from Pinot Noir grapes from the historic Le Léon plot between Aÿ and Dizy that was—like the Clos des Goisses—already being cultivated by Charles's forefathers in 1522. All of the 1522 cuvées, not matter if 2007 or 2008, are extraordinary again.