Wine Tasting | Champagne, Special Club - Milwaukee

Special Club Champagne is the very highest expression of grower Champagne that can be achieved. We here at Waterford know it, the producers themselves know it, and yet many of you may have never heard of it. So let us at Waterford extend a welcome invitation and a glass of tasty bubbles, and invite you to our first ever comparison tasting of Special Club Champagne!

But again, what is it? Let’s back up just a bit:

“Grower Champagne” is something Waterford has been fond of since our inception (the romance is real). In Champagne, there are about 19,000 growers of grapes. Historically, and even still to this day, most of those farmers sell their grapes to “large houses” like Veuve Clicquot or Moet. But starting about 50 years ago, there was a growing trend of small farmers keeping their grapes and turning them into their very own, hand-crafted, terroir-specific bottles: the farmers making the fizz. 

As the trend grew, these farmers wanted to be acknowledged, but also wanted to acknowledge each other’s accomplishments. A way to show the world what was the best of the best in Farmer Fizz was born, from the perspective of the very people making said Champagne. 

Hence the Club de Trésors, or Club of Treasures was formed in 1971. It’s a club of grower producers, who at the end of the vintage come together and present one another what they thought is the best of the best from their own productions. The Champagnes are judged by the group, and only the absolute very top is allowed to be bottled as a “Special Club.”

This tasting compares like producers’ “classic” non vintage cuvees to their special club bottlings. Nobody has ever put on a tasting like this in the world. It's absolutely unique and, for the Champagne connoisseur, should not be missed.

Wines to be tasted:

Pierre Gimonnet & Fils 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut $84.99
2015 Pierre Gimonnet & Fils "Spécial Club” Brut $159.99

Marc Hébrart "Sélection” Brut $84.99
2019 Marc Hébrart "Spécial Club” Brut $149.99

Henri Goutorbe "Cuvée Prestige” Brut $84.99
2012 Henri Goutorbe "Spécial Club” Brut $169.99

Gaston Chiquet "Tradition” Brut $69.99
2015 Gaston Chiquet "Spécial Club” Brut $124.99

Moussé Fils Eugene "Perpétuelle Blanc de Noirs” Brut $89.99
2019 Moussé Fils "Les Fortes Terres" Brut [Club Bottle] $179.99

H. Billiot "Réserve” Brut $79.99