Champagne Jose Michel Special Club 2015

$64.99 on 3+
$69.99 reg USA Low

What I can tell you is this producer is the stuff of legends.

One of the older growers in what is now a pretty crowded field.  Michel has been at the heart of championing Pinot Meunier use in champagne, garnering the ‘King of Pinot Meunier’ title from his followers and peers.  In fact, to make comparisons to some surprising Meunier users besides the now well-known Chartogne-Taillet and Mousse, surprising to me Krug uses 15-25% Pinot Meunier depending on the vintage in their blended wines (Grand Cuvee MV, Rose MV, & Vintage).

Oh, and the family estate began way back in 1847 and remains under the direction of 4th-generation José.  Located just 7km south-west of Epernay in the little village of Moussy, José has 10 hectares of vines spread across Moussy, Pierry, Brugny, Brasles and St. Agnan.  Jose uses 100-year-old Pinot Munier vines and 60+-year-old Chardonnay for the Special Club bottling.

Our take on the style:  A deeply flavored wine with a rich, dense character, it always grows from the bottle once the cork is pulled into a long, complex wine with a ton of depth.  With all that going on, the wines still round out nicely with a refinement that only builds in the bottle with time in the cellar as these age impeccably well.

Winemaker Notes
This Prestige cuvée, blended from 50% Meunier and 50% Chardonnay, patiently aged for many years in the darkness of the cellars, reveals a superb alchemy between two opposite but complementary grape varieties. It offers you a moment of grace that combines richness, balance and generosity.

One of the best buys for Special Club Champagne, Period. These are our last bottles of the fantastic 2014 Special Club, which remains the unbeatable best buy for the category. Most examples of Special Club have increased in pricing, with many now over $100 a bottle. Special club Champagne is one of the few Champagnes that guarantee quality because making it into and staying part of the Special Club is quite rigorous. This is an incredible bottle for the money, and we have a limited amount due to arrive soon in March.