Patrick Litle

9.3

Smooth, rich, slightly acidic — 2 months ago

Alberto Cdm

9.2

Ottimo! Bevuto nel 2024 — 10 months ago

Deborah M

9.4

I have yet to “meet” a Special Club that I didn’t love. This ☝️ may sit at the top of my list.

Special Club Champagne is the highest tier of classification that grower Champagnes can achieve. As of 2021, there were 28 Club de Trésors, or Club of Treasures, members. There is a rigorous process before a champagne can be bottled in a dedicated green Special Club bottle.

The 2013 Mouzon-Leroux, La Blanche Voie Spécial Club Parcellaire is made from equal parts of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, zero dosage, that comes from the village of Verzy. 100% delicious.
@55 Seventy Wine Club — 2 years ago

Willie Carter

9.3

These Pierre Gimonnet champagnes are always of the highest quality from the Côte des Blancs and with terrific prices. An original member of the Club Trésors de Champagne, the Special Club, and an easy buy, each and every time.

The color of starlight on a cloudless night. A surplus of tiny bubbles and persistent perlage throughout. A very clean and focused nose showcasing lemon peel, pears, and sea salt. Vanilla custard and pronounced smoke. Hazelnuts and freshly baked dough with a nice dose of spice. Apples of the green and red varieties.

Some love has to be shown to the labels. Classy metal front label and an ultra informative back label. Pure Chardonnay from the Grand Crus of Cramant (59%) and Chouilly (25%) with the rest coming from the Premier Cru terroir of Cuis. The acidity here is outrageous and highly focused, really beautiful. Very pure and creamy. Disgorged in December of 2019 with an Extra Brut dosage of 4 g/l.

Everything carries over to the palate. A very complex and harmonious champagne. Fresh and bold with more apples and spice. Strong minerality and yeast here. Long, enduring finish. This definitely lives up to the standards of Gimonnet and the Special Club. Don’t sleep on these 14’s, they’re alive and kicking. — 3 years ago

Vanessa

9.3

This is the 2018 Marc Hébrart Brut ‘Special Club’ – a beautiful bottle of vintage bubbles hailing from a collection of premier and grand cru sites in the Marne and Montagne de Reims regions of Champagne, France.

When you see “Special Club” on the label of a bottle with this distinctive shape, you’re dealing with essentially a prestige cuvée of a grower-producer who’s a member of the “Club Trésors.”

Marc Hébrart joined the Club Trésors in 1985, which is an association of quality-minded grower-producers. Grower-producers operate differently than the big champagne houses (e.g., Veuve-Clicquot) in that they are smaller-scale vignerons who own the entire production process from the vineyard to the winery and cellar.

They have helped raise awareness and appreciation of artisanal champagne wines that speak to a sense of place and personality, unobscured by extensive, widespread blending.

To achieve the status of “Special Club” a wine must undergo a rigorous application process and meet minimum quality metrics culminating with in two blind tasting panels – the first tasting evaluates the base wine after the first fermentation; the second and final tasting occurs after a minimum of three years aging sur lie.

From our studies we’ve learned the 2018 vintage bore above-average fruit; the warm and dry summer paved the way for a riper expression in an otherwise marginal climate. This wine is made with 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay.

The bouquet has a medium (+) intensity of yellow and green apple, lemon zest, white peach, gardenia, almond biscotti, nougat, pastry, biscuit, and toast notes. The palate is creamy with vibrant acidity, adding lift, a fine-beaded, persistent mousse and long, elegant finish.

— 2 months ago

with Deked1

Willie Carter

8.9

Special Club goodness. If you know, you know. The bottles, the high quality, and just the immense fun of the Club Trésors de Champagne.

A distinctly golden hue. Bubbles are tiny but sparse. Nice creaminess and zestiness immediately. The aromas take time to fully express themselves. After around thirty minutes, a touch of key lime and marzipan begins to emerge. Unmistakably Pinot Noir, fresh cherries and red apples introduce themselves. The nose remains subtle, yet quite pretty. The floral aromatics are soft and lovely.

Pure Pinot Noir from Ville-sur-Arce in the Côté des Bar, this is from a tiny plot of land that is farmed sustainably. This is still just a baby of a wine and has such a long journey ahead of it. At the moment it’s drinking quite well and the lively acidity holds everything together. No rough edges at all however so this is an exceedingly smooth pour. Citrus fruits abound on the tongue with a bit of flair and sexiness. Biting minerality on the medium long finish. The Special Club does it again with yet another teeeific champagne. — 3 years ago

Vanessa

9.4

**If interested, I’ve posted more pics of this visit and trip on my Instagram account - check me out @sips_ensemble**

We also had the pleasure to visit Champagne Paul Bara, another family-owned and -managed winery with only 8 employees! 💪 💪

It is a small but high-quality operation, producing approximately 100,000 bottles per year made exclusively from the free run juice. ✨✨✨ Thanks to the likes of @kermitlynchwine , the U.S. is a major exporting market for this wine. 🙌🙌

Paul Bara’s wines are sustainably farmed on numerous vineyard plots located throughout Bouzy, a Grand Cru village within the Montagne de Reims region of Champagne. 🏔 🏔

Bouzy is known especially for its Pinot Noir-driven Champagnes and also for its still red wines, a specialty of the region, called Coteaux Champenois. 🍇🍇

Paul Bara uses mostly stainless steel vessels for its vinification, designed to accentuate the purity of the fruit. They also use subterranean concrete vessels for the Pinot Noir used in rosé blends and for the Coteaux Champenois (still reds). 🥂

On our tour it was fascinating to see bottles being disgorged, dosaged, corked, capped, and caged on a machine in seconds — these are some of the last stages of the Méthode Champenoise. 🤓

We also learned that Paul Bara is a member of the ‘Club Trésors de Champagne’ an association of 28 vignerons formed to promote quality wine growing and winemaking practices and to highlight the beauty of terroir, demonstrating the excellence achievable outside of the major houses whose names are globally renown such as Veuve Cliquot and Moët & Chandon. 👏

Our favorite wine of the tasting was the 2010 Brut Comtesse Marie de France 🇫🇷 made exclusively from Pinot Noir grapes 🍇 It had a richness and abundance of orchard fruit, including baked yellow apple, also toast, bread dough, yeast, and dried white blossom notes, still offering finesse and precision, retaining incredible vibrancy.

We are grateful for our visit to Paul Bara and we look forward to visiting again the future! 🙏❤️ — 3 years ago

with Deked1

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.4

Beautiful. Much softer and rounder than the 16 Oger Grand Cru Special Club.

The mousse is fantastic…smooth as silk…micro oxygenation.

Lightly, bruised, red & green apple, pear, tones of apple cider, citrus blend-lime led, pineapple juice, notes of ginger-ale, shades of hues of brown sugar, cream, some bread dough, baguette crust, light yeastiness, perfect chalkiness, alluvial limestone, saline, sea fossils, soft white pepper, yellow lilies, spring flowers, soft, lively, perfect acidity and a beautiful two-minutes finish that encompasses; incredible balance, tension, structure and master woven.

The “Chouilly Grand Cru” Millésimé is the only vintage that comes from several plots, but from a single place called “Montaigu”. Its style represents the archetype of fine, delicate and creamy “blanc de Blancs” Champagne. It is made from several plots..12 hectares. 60 months on lees. They are an original member of the Club Trésors de Champagne.

Photos of, Gimonnet, Didier Gimonnet, the amazing chalk in their vineyards, Cote de Blanc Chardonnay grapes. — 9 months ago

Alan Weinberg

9.0

https://www.winemag.com/2021/02/22/special-club-champagne-guide/ Special Club champagnes are a small group of champagne houses actually called Club de Trésors. The article above explains a lot. This is an appley citrusy delicious version that needs more time. — 2 years ago

Vanessa

9.1

We’re pairing our Christmas brunch with a very special wine that we brought home from our recent trip to Champagne. 🍾🥂 🇫🇷

As we open this wine, we recall our visit to Hervieux-Dumez; a family-owned and -operated Champagne Grower/Producer, and member of the Club Trésors, located in the bucolic Premier Cru Village of Sacy. 💕 @champagne_hervieuxdumez

This particular wine is a ‘Special Club’, an indication of its quality and the purity of its terroir-expression. To receive this designation, the wine must come from an exceptional vintage and satisfy two blind tastings at different stages of the winemaking process: the first occurs when the wine is still, just prior to the second fermentation in bottle, and the second takes place after 3 years aging in bottle. 👏👏👏👏

This wine is a beautiful pale, gold hue. The mousse is fine and delicate. ✨ On the nose and palate, this wine offers primary notes of yellow apple, pear, lemon curd, and dried white blossom; also secondary notes of bread dough, yeast, brioche, and cream. 👍👍This wine is wonderfully balanced and refreshing; it presents dimension and complexity. It’s delicious.

Joyeux Noël to those celebrating today 🎄❄️ May your holiday be filled with warmth, peace, and many blessings. 🙏 — 3 years ago

with Deked1