Gaston Chiquet, “Special Club”, Brut, 2000

Gaston Chiquet, “Special Club”, Brut, 2000

The Special Club or Club Tresors de Champagne (Treasures of Champagne) was founded in 1971. All members are registered Recoltant-Manipulant (RM). Currently there are twenty-six members.

This is our second look at a vintage two-thousand from Chiquet. At seventy percent, Chardonnay will be the focus. The source of the Chardonnay is the Grand Cru ‘Ay’. Ay is one of Champagne’s seventeen villages rated Grand Cru; it is a stronghold for Pinot Noir. Chiquet makes a ‘blanc de blancs’ from Ay, one of only two. The vines were planted in 1935.

Composition: 70% Chardonnay (Ay) 30% Pinot Noir (Ay and Mareuil-sur-Ay).

Disgorged: 11/12/08

Dosage: 8 gl

Note: I will be drinking the wine over three days. The Metrokane “Velvet Champagne and Wine Sealer” is my closure.

Nose: Malt, Chardonnay notes with Pinot Noir density, chocolate briefly, chalk, sugared match-heads, bread-toast, ginger-bread, Pinot rising, flowers, soy, curds in gold, pulverized white rocks, pumpkin pie, pastry-dough, finished pastries, orange zest, chive, gristle, grease, skillet, green-chile skins.

Palate: Apple, green acid - red fruit, blood-orange emerging, heavy soil/stone presence, ultra-clear, lemon, pith, golden raspberries, sweet Pinot, intensely soil/ site specific, one panel is chiseled, etched, the other malty and rich.

Second day: The nose is Pinot with a thread of grass or celery. More brine than yesterday. A light oaken color, very pretty in the light. Spring like and floral, white crystals on a tomato crown. There is mandarin peel and carob. A piercing Chardonnay green, “…its golden green eyes flashes meaningfully.” The palate is still very focused revealing more salt; spruce briefly. My notes expire with: grass and mineral, sweet saline, green apple skin.

3rd Day. Nose: Lemon, oyster shells, pine-needles, orange liquor.

Palate: Rosemary, pine, lime, pomegranate. The wine is more unified today, there are no seams. Chablis with more weight.