2013 Gaston Chiquet Special Club Brut

This Chardonnay-dominant bottling was a staple of my student days, and I have fond memories of the fleshy, outgoing 1997 and the rich, vinous 1999. The latest release is the 2013 Brut Special Club, which was disgorged in August 2021, and it's a real success, wafting from the glass with an expressive bouquet of raspberries, citrus oil, crisp orchard fruit, freshly baked bread and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, layered and seamless, it's elegantly textural, with a concentrated core of fruit and a mousse that's more refined than Chiquet's wines a decade ago. Given the vintage and its recent disgorgement, this is already quite charming, but its tightly wound core promises considerable aging potential.