Tree Kilpatrick

9.2

Very much a hipster art project of a label. Also a caveman club of a bottle weight wise, so they must want you to age this. Obliged. Color is deep red to maroon. Hint of rust. Smells like wood smoke, wet Mediterranean herbs and cooked plum pastry. Flavors are nice and savory. Licorice and fennel meet berry cobblers in a good way. Has aged well. Funky and strange, but complex. Chocolate pairing is great. Black Cherry liquor. This is a nice example of age-able Grenache. — a month ago

Jeremy Autry

9.2

Wine Spectator Club NYC. — 5 years ago

Greg Gratson

9.2

Good, from wsj club. — 6 years ago

Lucinda Guinn

8.9

Primrose DC 6ft Wine Club. Floral and berry: — 6 years ago

Ben

9.7

Very nice white - came from WSJ wine club Dec ‘19 — 6 years ago

Alex Spoto

9.5

Bright, tart, quaffable natty vin by Alex Pomerantz via Stag/cerf club. Akin to Chad Hinds take on CA syrah. — 7 years ago

Suhaib Abdali

9.2

Bay Grape wine club. Bonus magnum bottle, opened at Christie’s birthday party. Nice dry rose, light and floral. — 8 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.6

The 4th wine at the First Growth Bordeaux lunch at the Downs Club last Saturday. Another brilliant claret defying the vagaries of the 2003 drought vintage. Sketchy notes. The nose continues with the aristocratic notes on all of the 5 First Growths we had today. Classic Gentleman’s claret with wonderful fragrance from savoury red and black fruits with whiffs of pipe tobacco and leather armchair. Amazing length. Would last into the 2030s easily and continue on. Classic Latour. — a year ago

Amanda Burton

9.2

Got in K&L wine club. I really liked! — 5 years ago

Greg Gratson

9.3

Winner from wsj club — 6 years ago

Greg Gratson

9.0

Good, from wsj club — 6 years ago

Jamie Irving

9.4

Cabin fever won't get us down as long as we're drunk as hell on this club banger🤣😭🤡 — 6 years ago

Christopher Sharp

9.1

Time wine club favourite... loads of strawberries — 8 years ago

Brigitte Desharnais

9.0

Vin blanc, acidité présente +, arômes agrumes. Sec, non boisé. Environ 6 euros. — 8 years ago

Michelle

8.9

Enjoyed at Cactus club. Definitely order again. Can’t go wrong with French. — 2 years ago

Joe Rose

9.3

a unicorn. Gift from wine club brought to party. — 2 years ago

Chris Dye

9.0

No longer a “Vin de Bourgogne”, now a “Produit de France” this is still a great example of a French Chardonnay. Slightly more mineral than a typical Burgundy, light bodied with peach and melon followed by a crisp, clean, and quick finish that then returns with some grass and citrus. — 6 years ago

with Jennifer

Vanessa Richards

9.0

Very smooth merlot — 6 years ago

Kelly Seiler

10

Wine club selection October 2019 - very good, one of Carson’s favorites, honey like and lovely — 7 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.2

This is Gaston’s Special Club. What does it mean when a Champagne is labeled as Special Club?

The Special Club, or Club Trésors de Champagne, was originally founded in 1971 by 12 of the oldest families of the Champagne region. Since then, the club has grown to include 29 producers committed to excellence in all aspects of production. This exclusive membership is only open to Recoltant Manipulants (a French designation for a producer of grower Champagne). Champagnes must be produced, bottled and aged at the member’s estate. The Special Club Champagnes represent the tête de cuvée (a premier bottling often carrying a vintage date) selection for each member.

Special Club Champagne designation means they are only made in outstanding vintages from grapes harvested from member’s own vineyards. Each producer must submit his wine to two blind tastings panels of esteemed oenologists and wine professionals. The still wines (vins clairs) are tasted first and if approved may be bottled in the uniquely-shaped Special Club bottle before undergoing secondary fermentation.

After a minimum of three years aging on lees, the wines are tasted again for final approval.

On the nose; green apple, bruised Bosc pear, touch of golden apple, pineapple, cream soda, light citrus, sea shells/spray, brioche, gray volcanic minerals, soft chalk, spring flowers & citrus blossoms.

The palate is soft, delicate, subtly rich with micro oxygenation. Green apple, bruised Bosc pear, bruised golden apple, pineapple, cream soda, light citrus, sea shells/spray, brioche, gray volcanic minerals that have teeth and dig deep into your palate, soft powdery chalk, spring flowers & citrus blossoms.

Photos of; the house of Gaston Chiquet, cellar-hand hand riddling bottles, Owner/Winemaker Nicolas Chiquet inspecting bottles and one of their Grand Cru Vineyard.

Producer notes...Nicolas farms 23 heactares in the Valle de la Marne in the villages of Ay, Dizy, Hautvillers and Mareuil-sur-Ay. All of the fruit (including that which is used in the non-vintage cuvee) comes from premier and grand cru grapes. Nicolas does not employ any oak aging at Gaston Chiquet; he believes that concentration, fruit maturity and malolactic fermentation impart enough body and texture to make aging in barrel unnecessary.

The vineyards are planted to equal (forty percent each) parts chardonnay, pinot meunier and twenty percent are planted to pinot noir. Gaston-Chiquet. He also produces a vintage dated chardonnay from 5 parcels on the western side of the grand cru village of Ay. Usually recognized as a grand cru village for pinot noir, these vines of chardonnay were planted in Ay in the 1930s.

In 1919, two brothers, Fernand and Gaston Chiquet winemakers came together to create their house Chiquet Brothers. They were ‘pioneers’ in Champagne, the very first winemakers to take the initiative, bold at the time, to keep their grapes, turn them into Champagne and sell their own wine. Nicolas Chiquet planted his first vines in 1746, and since then eight generations have have managed their house. Gaston Chiquet registered the company in 1935 and expanded the property with land in Aÿ, Cumières and Hautvillers. Gaston Chiquet is best known for making the only blanc de blancs from the Pinot village of Aÿ. Aÿ was the big name in the area long before wines became sparkling, and many were the kings and popes who counted Vin d’Aÿ as their favorite wine. The vineyards slope down steeply to the village by the Marne River, and the best locations are just over the town, sheltered from the wind and with maximum exposure to the sun. — 8 years ago