January 2025 bubbles — 3 months ago
Mild blended flavor with crisp after taste — 2 months ago
Pale gold with fine bubbles. Blossom, apple, pear, tangerine, lemon, brioche, and toasted almond. Dry, medium body. Well-balanced acidity with a crisp, medium-plus finish. You can find this stuff almost anywhere these days. But I must say, I still like it.
— 3 months ago
‘02 opened when my brother closed his first hotel deal. — 4 months ago
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.
— 7 months ago
Somm David T
Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator
They poured this from magnum at last years at Pebble Beach Food & Wine- From The Cellar Event. I have never much cared for their Yellow Label or La Grande Dame. But this vintage anniversary cuvée is quite nice. Perhaps, the only offering I’ve had from them and truly enjoyed. Pouring at the event was their Winemaker-Marie Charlemagne. — 21 hours ago