2009 Pierre Gimonnet Special Club

The 2009 Brut Spécial Club is pretty much the polar opposite of the 2008 taste alongside it. Expansive layers of tropical-infused fruit wrap around the palate as this sensual, flamboyant Champagne shows off its personality. The 2009 doesn't quite deliver the visceral thrill of the best Gimonnet wines, but it does offer plenty of pleasure today. This is a typical 2009 Champagne built on ripeness and immediacy. Once again, Cramant Chardonnay is the core of the blend. Fruit sources are 60% Cramant, 24% Chouilly and 16% Cuis. Dosage is 4.5 grams/liter. Disgorged: March 2015.

The 2009 Special Club Grand Terroirs de Chardonnay is sourced only from old vines, mostly in Cramant which makes 60% of the cuvée. 55% of the vines harvested in the Grand Cru village of Cramant were planted in 1911 and 1913, but also the 58-year-old vines in the Montaigu plot in Chouilly Grand Cru (which makes 24% of the cuvée, next to the 16% from the Croix-Blance parcel in Cuis) are exclusively picked for the Special Club. Disgorged in January 2015 with 4.5 grams per liter of dosage, this is an extraordinarily elegant, delicate and multi-layered vintage champagne with lots of finesse and ripe, intense and well focused fruit aromas. This long and persistent wine flies over the palate, though it is extremely nice and complex, but most of all elegant. Great champagne.