2005 was a tough season in Champagne, and I find myself frequently shaking my head as to why prestige cuvées were released in this very powerful vintage at all. In this context, Gimonnet’s Special Club is not only refreshingly, surprisingly well poised for the vintage, it’s a remarkable champagne by any standard. This wine romps all over many much more famous and far more expensive prestige cuvées from the same vintage, from larger houses that should know better. Old vines, great sites and exacting attention on the blending table have produced a triumph of 2005. Silky mineral texture, well defined citrus and white summer fruits and an airy fragrance linger exceedingly long, upholding a core of fruit concentration, underlined by fine-strung mineral presence and the elegant, fresh lemon fruits characteristic of Gimonnet.