SPÉCIAL CLUB – the prestige cuvée from small growers in Champagne
For several years we have been looking for growers in the most interesting villages who know how to produce wine that expresses the soil and the microclimate’s characters in the best way. In Champagne, the market is dominated by 289 houses, of which 24 are so-called Grand Marques. These control about two thirds of the approximately 300 million bottles produced annually. What is extra interesting for us are champagnes that come from one of the approximately 2,500 small growers who produce their own unique champagne. Here, the grower’s personality and artistic touch will give a product, not necessarily with grandeur, but with a lot of charm and personality and unique intensity. Hardly a symphony, but often a beautiful solo piece.
Challenger to the big ones
It is easy to believe that the most interesting champagne is made by the big houses that buy a lot of grapes of different style and quality, and that these blends are always of high quality. This can certainly often to be the case, but in recent decades more and more small growers in Champagne have chosen not to sell their grapes on to the big houses, but instead to produce their own small-scale champagne.
