FRENCH WINE

cépage 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay
assemblage 100% 2014
village/vyd all Coeur de Cuvée and old vine sélection massale; 40% Pinot Noir from Mareuil-sr-Aÿ 1er Cru (Faubourg D’enfer, Croix Blanche, Pruche, Haut de Varille); 20% Pinot Noir from Aÿ Grand Cru (Cheuzelles, Pierre Robert, Le Leon, Pruche); 30% Chardonnay from Mareuil-sr-Aÿ 1er Cru (Beauregard, Ramonette, Buisson Saint Loup, Clef); 10% Chardonnay from Oiry Grand Cru and Chouilly Grand Cru

Jean-Paul Hébrart has been making some of the very finest wines in the Marne Valley for many years. They have long been favorites of ours. Peter Liem recently, said "Hébrart's wines just keep getting better and better. He's easily one of the best growers in Champagne." Hébrart's wines straddle ripe fruit character and intense soil expression, making them both complex and approachable. They are the wines you drink with people who think that they don't like Champagne.

Like all of Paul Bara’s releases, Pinot Noir is the back-bone of their Special Club. Production is strictly old-school, with only free run and first press juice used, fermentation in small cement tanks, and aging and riddling in cold, extremely deep cellars for several years. Nothing is released until ready. Each year, the Special Club represents the pinnacle of the Bara process and style. Superlatives seem to be insufficient when describing the experience of savoring a glass of this Champagne. It simply has it all—refined hazel-nutty, toasty notes, bright acidity, some of the most delicate bubbles ever created, and a finish that lasts and lasts (sometimes longer than the bottle does).
Clark z. Terry, Kermit Lynch wine merchant

PETER LEIM 1 1/2 STARS-"A blend of 70 percent Pinot Noir and 30 percent Chardonnay, this is fragrant and perfumed, its soft red fruit feeling voluptuous in texture and energetic in tone. This is an excellent version of this cuvée, showing an unusual detail and finesse, and it finishes with long, lively length. Last tasted: 3/17."