2017 Pierre Gimonnet et Fils Champagne Special Club Cramant Grand Cru

Regular price $134.98

Quantity

95 James Suckling - Pie crust, chalk, grapefruit and nutmeg on the nose of this chalky, minerally Champagne. Tight and driven, with sharp acidity and very fine bubbles. Delicious sea salt and citrus notes come through at the end. 100% chardonnay from Caramant. Drink or hold.

92 Decanter - Cramant tends to be the most dazzling of Didier Gimonnet's Special Club bottlings, which highlight individual villages of Chardonnay in the northern Côte des Blancs. The 2017, while far from displaying the problems encountered elsewhere in Champagne during this torrid vintage, nevertheless fails quite to hit the heights this wine can reach, trading on a forward, developing apricot and orange citrus fruitiness, straight and balanced but not quite showing the mineral presence, fine citrus or linear, age-worthy structure that often emerges in this cuvée.

92 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate - The new 2017 Special Club Cramant Grand Cru derives from several lieux-dits within the village and incorporates fruit from vines planted between 1911 and 1982. Disgorged in October 2023 with four grams per liter dosage, it opens from the glass to reveal aromas of white flowers, brioche, orange zest and pear. Slightly broader and less tight-knit than the 2016 rendition, it’s textural yet vibrant and laden with bright acidity and chalky extract. This is a wine that Gimonnet describes as the “nec plus ultra” of his single-village cuvées, and it proves the point, even if it appears to be more immediate than its predecessor.

Shipping Policy

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Unless your delivery address is on the West Coast, we strongly discourage you from selecting “Ground Service” as your shipping method. During the winter and summer months, weather conditions (temperature) and longer delivery times can often result in the spoilage of your order. It doesn’t make sense to invest in fine wines and then take the chance of ruining them due environmental factors during transit (faster and safer delivery generally isn’t much more expensive). We don’t make an additional profit on accelerated delivery, but we frequently recommend faster shipping options to our customers outside the West Coast.
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During periods of extreme weather, we attempt to ship wines at the beginning of each week in order to get shipments to you before the weekend. This is because we have no control over the temperature conditions at our freight carriers’ warehouses. The result may be that your shipment doesn’t go out the day that you place an order.
We ship by Fedex or Fedex Ground. Our prices include packaging materials. Insurance may be available for an additional charge.
Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. will arrange for shipment on behalf of the buyer, to an address specified by the buyer, provided that Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. in its sole judgment believes that such shipment will not subject Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. to the risk of any sort of legal action or other harm. If a buyer lives in a state where the direct shipment of wine by Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. violates the law, we suggest that the buyer provide an alternative address in another state or have their wine shipped to a third-party storage facility in a direct shipping-friendly state.
Various states impose limitations on the quantity of alcoholic beverages that may be purchased and brought into their jurisdiction by a purchaser from another state without requiring the purchaser, a seller or shipper to possess certain licenses or permits. Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. does not, as a condition of sale, assume any obligation nor bear any responsibility whatsoever for applying or obtaining any permits or licenses. Therefore, we recommend that you investigate the possibility of such limitations, and determine the manner in which alcoholic beverages shall be brought into your state from California, so as to comply with all of your state’s requirements.
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