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Bollinger

The story of Bollinger begins with the handsomely named Joseph Jacob Placide Bollinger, a German originating from Württemberg. In 1822, at the age of 19 years, Bollinger took up employment with Müller-Ruinart, a house established only the previous year by fellow German Antoine Müller - previously chef de cave at Veuve Clicquot - and his wife. Germany had a voracious appetite for Champagne, and as a consequence many of its nationals were living and working in the region. Bollinger was just one of a number of notable names, the others including Johann-Josef Krug who went on to form his own house, the Heidsiecks who created their house which is now split into three arms, including Charles Heidsieck, Edouard Werle, partner to the Veuve Clicquot, and many more.

Seven years later Joseph Jacob, or Jacques as he became known, left Müller-Ruinart and joined forces with work colleague Paul Renaudin and the Comte de Villermont to form Renaudin, Bollinger & Co. The noble Villermont, although instrumental in the creation of the company, remained a silent partner, driven by a desire to make money but not to have his name overtly associated with the business. Renaudin's input was also limited, leaving the company only a few years after its creation (although it was over a hundred years later that his name disappeared from the labels), and thus it was Bollinger who was the driving force in its early years. He undertook a rapid expansion of the domaine with the planting of new vineyards in Verzenay and even went on to marry Charlotte de Villermont, the Comte's daughter by his second marriage, in 1837. Together the couple had two sons, Georges and Joseph, and after the passing of their father in 1888 the two siblings continued the expansion he had commenced with acquisitions in several villages including the famed Bouzy. Between them they remained in charge for 30 years, control not passing to Georges' son Jacques - named for his grandfather - until 1918.

Tante Lily

Jacques married Elizabeth Law de Lauriston Boubers who went by the name of Lily, or Tante Lily (Aunt Lily) to family and friends. It was Lily who took the reins when Jacques died, at the tender age of 47, in 1941. War was ravaging Europe and France was occupied, and under German occupation fuel was in short supply, so Madame Bollinger took to inspecting the vineyards on bicycle. Of all the images that exist from her time in charge, those of her astride her velo amongst the vines are perhaps the most iconic and the longest lasting in my memory. They remind us of a different time, a different world even, and how unbridled war touches all, civilian and military alike. She was a hard taskmaster, personally directing operations in both vineyard and cave, everything from harvest and selection through to fermentation and blending. It is perhaps not surprising that much of Bollinger's success today is traced back to her exacting methods. She also worked to continue her father-in-law's expansion of the vineyards, and did much to publicise Champagne in foreign markets, the best known example of which is the quote, above, which was printed in a British newspaper in 1961.

After Lily died in 1977 there was no direct heir, and the business came into the hands of more distant family members who no longer bore the name of Bollinger. Her nephew Christian Bizot was the first to take the reins, and indeed a number of Bollinger's modern-day shareholders share this surname. Bizot had began working with Lily at Bollinger in 1952, and with time he was himself joined by his own nephews, Michael Villedey and Arnould d'Hautefeuille. Today the house remains in the hands of Bollinger descendents, it being Ghislain de Montgolfier who until recently held the reins, having taken them up in 1994. There was continued success under Montgolfier, a great-great-grandson of founder Jacques Bollinger, perhaps marked by the acquisition of neighbouring Champagne Ayala by Bollinger in 2005. He continued to hold the reins until 2008 when for the first time the position of managing director passed outside the Bollinger family. The new man in charge is Jérôme Philipon, a graduate of Essec Business School in Paris who has a strong background in food and agriculture, having worked for the Coca Cola Company for nine years, as well as the Nestlé Group where he oversaw the production of Lyon's Maid, a popular British brand of ice cream. Ghislain de Montgolfier, meanwhile, left to concentrate on administrative and political roles within the Champagne region. Having already been elected president of the Association Viticole Champenoise in 2004, he subsequently went on to occupy the same exalted position with both the Union des Maisons de Champagne, a local trade organisation, and then the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne.

Vineyards and Vinification

Any story of a domaine or similar should begin in the vineyard, but this is always difficult in Champagne, where the finished cuvées are always divorced from their terroirs of origin. Even here at Bollinger, where chef de cave Matthieu Kauffmann (pictured below) - an Alsacien and a trained agronomist appointed by Montgolfier - may typically blend more than 300 separate cuvées. Each one of these different wines is distinguished by vineyard or village of origin, although none of this comes through onto the label or in the wine, the many different nuances instead being combined to create a homogenous but admirably consistent style. Nevertheless, vineyards are certainly of great importance to Bollinger, who own about 178 hectares, which provides them with more than 60-70% of the fruit Kauffmann uses each year. These vineyards typically lie in the hands of Bollinger shareholders, families with names such as Bizot or Montgolfier, names that are to many immediately unfamiliar although, as explained above, they are in fact descendents of the original Bollinger family. The remaining 30-40% of the fruit brought in each year comes from local growers, who are usually retained on long-term contracts.

The backbone of the Bollinger house is Pinot Noir; this variety, typically clone 386, accounts for 60% of the Bollinger vineyard, probably around 67% of their total harvest each year (the higher figure reflecting the fruit sourced from contracted growers) and never accounts for less than 60% of any Bollinger cuvée. The balance will be a mix of Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier, the former dominating. All the fruit is picked by hand, this being mandatory for the Champagne appellation, starting first with the earlier ripening Chardonnay before moving onto the red grapes. In a typical vintage somewhere between 65-75% of the Bollinger harvest will be from grand cru vineyards. If from the Bollinger vineyards the fruit would then be transported to the dedicated facility at Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, built in 2003, for weighing, assessment and vinification. Transported and then stored in 40 kg crates, the fruit is transferred into one of five gigantic cylindrical pneumatic presses by an automatic mechanism. The juice obtained is divided, the first 80% (or thereabouts) - the finest juice, also known as the cuvée - is destined for the Bollinger wines, whereas what remains - a juice richer in tannin and colour known as the taille - is sold off to other Champagne houses. The nascent wine is then transferred to stainless steel tanks on a plot-by-plot basis for débourbage at 15ºC, before temperature-controlled fermentation at 20ºC. Each tank has a 50-hectolitre capacity, more than enough for the 40 hectolitres typically generated by each pressing. Subsequently, the wines are blended within villages, to maintain their terroir signature, in 80-hectolitre tanks. Alternatively the juice may be fermented in oak, in which case it may find itself at the Bollinger facilities in the heart of Aÿ, opposite Lily Bollinger's house, delivered in tanker as required. Oak fermentation is a major feature of the Bollinger way, with all vintage cuvées and even some aliquots of the non-vintage wine fermented in wood.

As for the Bollinger growers, who number somewhere between 250 and 300, approximately half will deliver harvested fruit to Bollinger, whereas half will press the fruit themselves and deliver the fresh must. I had the opportunity to watch one such grower in Aÿ at work when I visited the region in late 2009, the traditional square press being used by the family exactly 100 years old that year. The only concession to modern technology was an electric motor to turn the mechanism, but on the giant driving wheel there were still holes for pegs so that it could be turned by hand. Bollinger has just one solitary press of this sort of design, a fully-restored traditional cylindrical basket press located in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. Of small capacity and requiring considerable maintenance and cleaning compared to Bollinger's pneumatic presses, this is used solely for the fruit from two Bollinger vineyards, Clos St-Jacques and Clos des Chaudes Terres. These are very special sites which deserve some particular attention, but I will deal with them in more detail later.

From Grape to Wine to Cellar

Once all the fermentations have completed, both alcoholic and malolactic, it is necessary to begin fashioning the different Bollinger cuvées, but before that process begins the priority is to ensure Bollinger's stock of reserve wine is secured. Old vintages are used by every Champagne house for blending into the non-vintage blend, to gain complexity and consistency of house style, and Bollinger is no exception; what is different is the manner in which these wines are stored. Whereas many houses keep them in steel tanks, Bollinger stores them in magnums filled and then topped off with a micro-dosage, 6 grams of sugar rather than the usual 24 grams, with a small dose of yeast. This creates a small refermentation within the bottle, but note that this is not the genuine second fermentation which gives us the sparkle of Champagne. What we have here are lightly pétillant wines, which rest in Bollinger's 5 miles of cellars until they are required for blending. The process of micro-fermentation and subsequent pétillance gives, according to Bollinger's PR and marketing director Stephen Leroux, better control over the state of the wine, which might otherwise referment in an undesirable fashion. Bollinger keep a stock of approximately 600000 magnums of reserve wines, withdrawing between 80000 and 100000 each year for blending, and making a similarly sized deposit from the most recent vintage. These magnums may rest here for anywhere between 5 and 20 years until they are used, their ultimate destination in all cases being the non-vintage Special Cuvée. For more detail on this and other wines, we need to take a look at the Bollinger cuvées.

Bollinger Special Cuvée & Rosé

Without doubt the most commonly encountered wine from Bollinger is the non-vintage Special Cuvée. Clearly this wine is bread and butter for the house, a wine which soaks up not only a large proportion of the annual harvest but also, as described above, tens of thousands of magnums of reserve wine every vintage. The make-up of the wine is consistent; a blend of the two most recent vintages in equal proportions constitutes 90% of the finished wine, with the remaining 10% being a blend of reserve wines - a palette of 8-10 vintages would be typical, perhaps up to 20 years old in some cases - selected by chef de cave Matthieu Kauffmann. Much of this has been fermented in steel, but some - including those reserve wines - will have been fermented in oak, and so as much as 25% of the final blend will have been produced in this way; this is notably different to most non-vintage cuvées produced by other houses and the effect on the quality and style of the eventual wine is tangible. The oak signature itself is not strong, though, as the barrels used tend to be older, typically sourced from Burgundy. Those shown on the right are the latest arrivals in Aÿ, lined up and waiting for reconditioning in the dedicated Bollinger cooperage.

The blending is based on a spring tasting of the vin clairs, a term that describes those wines that have finished their first fermentation, but have yet to undergo the second. Matthieu Kauffmann first pulls together a pre-assemblage in 15 steel tanks, bringing together various components of the final blend, before transfer to another Bollinger facility where he has access to two 1000 hectolitre tanks specifically for the purpose of the final blending. The wine is transported there in tanker, previously blended wine brought back on the return journey in order to be bottled. The wine is topped up with a liqueur de tirage of sugar (as noted above, 24g would be typical) and yeast and sealed with crown cap, and then after the second fermentation has completed the wine is left on its lees for three years. During this time the wine is riddled by mechanised gyropalette prior to disgorgement, during which the wine is topped up with a wine that is sympathetic to the blended cuvée. The end result is between 2 and 3 million bottles of Special Cuvée per annum, as well as a good quantity of magnums and even 1500 jeroboams; larger formats are filled from smaller bottles as required.

Before moving onto the vintage wines Bollinger's newest creation, the non-vintage Rosé, deserves a mention. Only released in recent years, this is essentially Special Cuvée with 5% red wine blended in. Attractively packaged, quality is high.

Bollinger La Grande Année and RD

Next up is La Grande Année, perhaps once regarded as their vintage cuvée although now I think the Bollinger team see this differently. Once the stocks of reserve wines have been ensured what wine remains may be utilised for this single-vintage cuvée, should the quality merit it. As with the Special Cuvée (and any other Champagne) the wines are tasted and selected and blended, before being bottled with the liqueur de tirage. Notable differences here include the use of a cork seal rather than crown cap, and the process of riddling the sediment down to the neck of the bottle which is achieved by hand rather than gyropalette; there are three hand-riddlers employed, each one typically turning up to 50000 bottles per day. After disgorgement the wine is topped up with the dosage, using sugar suspended in wine from the same vintage in order to give 9 g/l in the final wine.

The date of disgorgement remains a sticking point for Bollinger and La Grande Année in particular. After at least five years on the lees the wines are disgorged as required, and as any one vintage may be current for several years, this means the last bottles to be disgorged may undergo this process more than two years after the first. This is important as the process of ageing on the lees - which continues until the disgorgement - has a marked effect on the style of the wine, so early releases of La Grande Année are likely to be quite different wines when compared to later releases. Although Stephen Leroux explains that this is commonplace throughout Champagne, that does not mean Bollinger - in its search for even higher quality and consistency - should continue the same. A tasting of two bottles of La Grande Année on the last day of my visit there in 2009, the first in a formal tasting and the second over lunch, may have been a very pertinent illustration of this. Bottle number one was awkward and showed a little sulphurous element, whereas the second was rounded, polished and harmonious. Was this latter bottle an earlier disgorgement?

The next noteworthy point regarding La Grande Année is an observation of where the cuvée sits in the Bollinger portfolio. In my eyes it has always been the vintage cuvée, a stepping stone from the entry-level Special Cuvée up to the rarer wines, more of which below. In recent years, however, I perceive a repositioning of the brand, upwards naturally. The price, which has increased in recent years, reflects this, although admittedly this must be viewed in the context of 'fine' wine prices globally, all of which have been climbing, whether we are discussing Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne or otherwise. Secondly, the packaging also now places the wine in this sort of arena; individual bottles of the 2000 vintage now come in a snow-white presentation box which outclasses - in design and size - anything found cushioning a bottle of non-vintage Krug, Dom Perignon, Dom Ruinart or the Cuvée Winston Churchill from Pol Roger. And third, one only has to listen to the Bollinger president Jérôme Philipon and his team who clearly see the wine (in particular the rosé) in a peer group alongside Dom Perignon, Krug and Roederer's Cristal to be convinced of where they are positioning their wine. Quality in La Grande Année is high, that is a fact I can not deny, and when lined up against these more pricy cuvées I also can not deny that the wine offers good value. Nevertheless, I find myself in a quandary. I am pleased that Bollinger is under such determined control, and that quality is not only high but that it is also increasing as Philipon and company drive it higher through investment in people and infrastructure. But by contrast I am also a little saddened, disheartened by the feeling that La Grande Année is slowly moving out of the financial reach of common-or-garden wine lovers. I can't criticise Bollinger for this repositioning; the house sells every bottle of Special Cuvée and La Grande Année produced without difficulty, suggesting that the price is 'right', but this shift of the portfolio towards a set of prestige cuvées and the increasingly pricy entry-level Special Cuvée will I think distance them from some consumers, possible future Bollinger drinkers.

Before moving on I should just return to La Grande Année Rosé. A relatively recent addition to the range, this is La Grande Année blended with 5% red wine sourced from the Côte aux Enfants. My experience of the wine, especially the 2002 vintage tasted at Bollinger's headquarters, is that quality is extraordinarily high. It is not surprising that the men behind it place it in such illustrious company (the Krug and Cristal comparisons above are not inappropriate), and even with a considerably higher price tag than the standard Grande Année the experience it offers is probably worth the financial hit, at least once in your life. The final cuvée to be considered here is RD, which indicates the wine has been récemment dégorgé (recently disgorged); of perhaps 500000 bottles of La Grande Année committed to the cellar, perhaps only four-fifths are actually released under that label. Once the 2-3 year period of disgorgement has completed and Bollinger move onto the next vintage to be released, what remains is left undisturbed for a further 3-4 years. It is then disgorged after typically 8-10 years on the lees, and given a lower dosage, the eventual concentration of sugar being 4 g/l, less than half the figure for Grande Année. This is RD, a fresh and distinctive style, and certainly a Champagne worth experiencing.

Bollinger, Phylloxera and Vieilles Vignes Françaises

Take a walk around the Bollinger headquarters in Aÿ and the more astute will notice something a little unusual about the grounds and their vines. I am not referring to Bollinger's small collection of Champagne varieties old and modern, although that is certainly a curious sight, the rows of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir clones sitting alongside Pinot Meslier, Pinot Gris and even Gamay. No, I am referring to two vineyards planted en foule (meaning "in a crowd"), the vines randomly distributed about the vineyard rather than in the regimented rows that we are more used to. These are Clos St-Jacques and Clos des Chaudes Terres, the two exceedingly special vineyards which I mentioned earlier in this profile.

These two sites, together with Croix Rouge, a vineyard in Bouzy, have for many years been the source of Bollinger's ultra-rare and expensive Vieilles Vignes Françaises. The three were unified by their ungrafted status, each one seemingly resistant to the phylloxera louse which devastated all the surrounding vineyards many decades ago. Until 2007 that is, when for some unknown reason Croix Rouge finally succumbed, leaving just the two vineyards in Aÿ, which sit behind and in front of the Bollinger headquarters. Some ascribe the vineyards' resilience and ultimate survival to the surrounding walls, but I am not convinced this is an adequate barrier. Standing in the vineyard another explanation becomes apparent; the soils here are remarkably sandy (as can be seen on the left, in Chaudes Terres), and the louse's disinclination to infect vines rooted in sand is well described.

Another feature of the two surviving vineyards, which are planted purely with Pinot Noir, is that many of the vines (specifically, all in Chaudes Terres, perhaps half in St-Jacques) are trained using the traditional en foule technique. Rather than being planted in low and tightly spaced rows and trained horizontally along wires, the norm for Champagne (giving a typical density of 10000 vines/ha for the region), the individual vines are trained vertically up stakes, as shown above. Working on their own roots the vines put out new canes from beneath the soil, and so during the growing season new growth can sometimes be seen breaking forth some distance away from the original vine. When this happens the fresh growth is trained up a new stake, replacing the old cane, and as all the vines are doing this the whole vineyard slowly marches uphill over the years, necessitating the establishment of new vines at the bottom of the slope. Each year the new shoots yield a small number of bunches, much lower than yields when trained in the normal fashion, and after harvest the cane is bent over back into the ground where it tip-roots. So unlike a normal vineyard where each row consists of many individual plants, here instead we have just a few vines, giving a huge amorphous mass of roots, sprouting many young canes each spring. And, despite the vieilles vignes designation, the vines are not that old. The name of the cuvée reflects how the vines are trained, rather than their age. Bollinger staff were a little vague about the exact age of the vines when I visited, I suspect because with this system it can be rather had to tell for sure, but I have seen reports that suggest they may be as old as 50 years - and others that suggest 10 as a more likely figure. Once harvested the fruit is pressed at Bollinger's facility at nearby Mareuil-sur-Aÿ using the traditional but beautifully refurbished basket press I described earlier.

The first vintage of Vieilles Vignes Françaises was 1969, a fitting date as this was also the year of Lily Bollinger's 70th birthday. Previously incorporated into the other Bollinger wines, legend has it that the famous Champagne writer Cyril Ray persuaded Madame Bollinger to keep the fruit of these vines for a separate cuvée. Just a few thousand bottles of this rare and expensive cuvée are produced and that is only in the best vintages, in lesser years the fruit goes into the other Bollinger wines, and so even an important export market such as the UK will see an allocation of only a handful of cases. The price tag naturally reflects this rarity, exclusivity and high quality.

That concludes my profile of Bollinger and my notes on the wines, as I have no tasting experience of Bollinger's real curiosity, the still red wine sourced from the south-facing slopes of the Côte aux Enfants in Aÿ. Bollinger's place in Champagne - in its history, in its portfolio of grands marques - is without doubt secure. Under the current management - Philipon, Leroux & Kauffmann - quality continues to climb, and ultimately that can only be good, both for Bollinger and for the Champagne region as a whole. The tasting notes below include opinions on many of the wines in the Bollinger portfolio, particularly taking in many vintages of La Grande Année, as well as numerous incarnations of Special Cuvée. I have also been fortunate enough, however, to taste the rosés in both non-vintage and vintage Grande Année formats, as well as RD and even, when visiting Bollinger, a lone vintage of Vieilles Vignes Françaises (latest notes to be added tomorrow). (21/10/04, updated 11/1/08, 6/10/09)

Contact details:
Address: rue Jules Lobet, BP 4, 51160 Aÿ
Telephone: +33 (0) 3 26 53 33 66
Fax: +33 (0) 3 26 54 85 59
Internet: www.champagne-bollinger.fr

Bollinger - Tasting Notes

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Bollinger La Grande Année Rosé 2002: This is the white Grand Année blend, 100% barrel-fermented as always, with the addition of red wine sourced from the Côte aux Enfants. The colour is just lovely, a fresh salmon pink. It is a touch high-toned at first, with a firm fruit nose, showing an exotic character with notes of peach and wild strawberry, then more characterful forest fruits and cherries. It has a deep complexity, a savoury quality that takes this out of the flavour spectrum where most pink Champagnes reside; alongside the fruit character there are notes of frangipane, almonds and a sous bois character more reminiscent of Burgundy than Champagne. The palate is elegant, stylish, full and harmonious, rich and yet gently composed, fine and broad. This is a grand vin with bubbles. From a tasting at Bollinger. 18+/20 (September 2009)

Bollinger La Grande Année 2000: As always this is a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the former predominant (in a ration of 2:1) in keeping with the house style. No Pinot Meunier here. The fruit is all sourced from grand cru and premier cru vineyards. We sampled two bottles of this vintage, the first in the main tasting and the second over lunch. This was fortuitous as I found this first bottle to be somewhat awkward, tight and withdrawn, with a whisp of sulphur still evident, although I know others found it acceptable or even very good. The fruit had a honey crunch to it, crisp and creamy at the same time, with a firm but generous quality and a precise mousse. I would have scored this bottle 17.5+/20, but the second was more convincing than that. This example, perhaps an earlier disgorgement, had a much more elegant style, with more finely defined crystalline fruit. Excellent wine. From a tasting at Bollinger. 18+/20 (September 2009)

Bollinger Grande Année 2000: Stony and mineral on the nose, and it is showing a trace of fading sulphur too. The palate is quite fleshy, open, flavoursome and accessible which is a little surprising. The fruit profile is slightly exotic, with nice stone fruit elements, and a little thyme and lemon cream. A full and bright mousse, and a nice seam of lemony acid at the core. Good style, drinking soon. From the 2009 annual Champagne Tasting. 17-17.5+/20 (March 2009)

Bollinger Grande Année 1999: Last year this seemed very closed and I scored quite conservatively. This year it has more perfume, with aromas of flower petals, rose water, and a trace of toffee-caramel richness. A lovely palate, surprisingly light and elegant in view of that evolving maturity on the nose. Still a little plump at present, youthful, although with a soft and clean character at the finish. Overall and excellent style with fine potential. A much more positive opinion from me this time. From the 2008 annual Champagne tasting. 17.5-18+/20 (March 2008)

Bollinger Grande Année 1999: Another wine which seems a little closed down today, although it has some appealing notes of smoke, blackcurrant leaf and honey. Pervasive presence on the palate, although with very primary flavours. Creamy depth. Bright. Very acidic, with a fine mousse. This undoubtedly has good potential. From the 2007 Champagne Information Bureau Tasting. 16.5+/20 (March 2007)

Bollinger Grande Année Rosé 1999: A peachy, salmon pink hue. Really expressive nose, very open and obvious aromas of sweet, ripe strawberries with a green, nettly note spicing it up. Very full, mouthfilling style, but plainly very youthful and baring all its brutal structure today. Nice flavours, delicate red berries alongside more attractive peach and tangerine. Needs to soften up, but should be great when that has been done. From the 2007 Champagne Information Bureau Tasting. 16.5+/20 (March 2007)

Bollinger Grande Année Rosé 1999: A salmon-pink hue. Great character on the nose here, which shows notes of caramel, firm red and even black fruits, showing a little blackberry in particular. This is an unusual profile, and this shows on the palate which is very serious, quite firm, and is currently still a little disjointed in character. There is some naked alcohol, and even some tannin here. This has good potential though, but needs several years bottle age for all this to come together. From the annual Champagne Information Bureau Tasting. 16.5+/20 (March 2006)

Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises 1999: Served blind this wine showed a rich but well-judged, pale golden hue in the glass, and a captivating nose that immediately suggested this was a pure Pinot Noir cuvée, with the meaty-biscuity richness of that variety presented in an intense, evocative, very linear and defined fashion. There is concentration here, but also freshness and great style; we're at Bollinger, so the only wine that would fit this description is of course the Vieilles Vignes cuvée from the old ungrafted vines described above. The palate is divine - although I could easily be accused of being less objective now the identity of the wine is clear. It has a great paradox of concentrated, honeyed fruit set against a fine and rather light mousse and overall an elegance, a finesse, which is unparalleled. Broad, substantial but never unbalanced or ponderous, all culminating in a considerable finish, this wine's reputation is surely well deserved based on this particular example. I don't have any knowledge of other vintages of Vieilles Vignes Françaises in order to place this wine within a tighter context, but placed against a backdrop of other Champagnes this wine is superb, and a must-taste experience for fans of the region, especially those that prefer Pinot-based cuvées. Quite simply, a wonderful wine. From a tasting at Bollinger, for label images and more see my Wine of the Week write-up. 19+/20 (September 2009)

Bollinger Grande Année 1997: The 1997 does not quite have the quality of the 1999, but it remains worthwhile; on tasting today it demonstrates a pale straw hue, although it is just starting to take on a very slight tinge of onion skin, but it is certainly not mature. There is a plentiful, small to moderate sized bead. There is not as much development as I might have expected - I last tasted this only a few months ago - although the nose has attractive aromas of caramel and citrus fruits. An appealing palate, with plenty of youthful, sharply foaming mousse. A touch of coffee too, but the caramel is the most obvious flavour, a character which has been with this wine on every tasting so far. Plenty of acidity and structure here, a touch lean and metallic in character on this tasting although I haven't really noticed this before. A good rather than great Champagne, with a short sharp finish, this needs some time in the cellar to soften. For label images and more see my Wine of the Week write-up. 16+/20 (March 2008)

Bollinger Grande Année 1997: A nice, clean appearance. Plenty of bead, small to moderate size. Nice, evolved nose, smoky caramel mixed with the fresh and appealing greenness of lime leaves, and even a touch of vanilla. Nice little nuances of organic complexity here. Full, fresh and rounded, with early secondary flavours, of caramel and coffee, but with piles of freshness, lovely acidity and a crisp mousse underneath it all. This is just fine. A really good effort for the vintage, showing better than both of my previous tastings. I shudder to think of the rise in price of Grande Année since I bought this though. From a tasting of the 1997 Vintage at ten years of age. 16.5+/20 (December 2007)

Bollinger Grande Année 1997: A mid-gold hue. Very different on the nose compared with my memory of my last tasting, as this displays a lot of buttery caramel and toffee character; does this reflect date of disgorgement? More sweet, creamy caramel character on the palate which is full and rounded and nicely textured, with just moderate acidity. Clearly a good wine for the vintage though. From the annual Champagne Information Bureau Tasting. 16+/20 (March 2006)

Bollinger Grande Année 1997: Mid gold hue. Fine central bead, with fatter bubbles at the rim. Clean, citrusy nose at first, showing some toastiness and a little smokiness with time in the glass. Youthful palate, vivacious with fresh, firm acidity. No great complexity and still a sheen of polished oak evident. Strikes me as more promising than the 92, but inferior to the 95 and obviously the 96. Will improve over three to four years. 16+/20 (February 2005)

Bollinger RD 1997: The term RD refers to the practice of recent disgorgement; this wine is essentially La Grande Année, but with the wine left on the lees for an extended period of time, in the case of this bottle more than 10 years as it was disgorged in early 2009. The dosage is lower than for Grande Année, so the finished product is drier. This wine has one of the finest beads I have ever seen, and it has a very fine nose, full and ripe, aromatic and yet full of youthful, fresh, zesty character. It has a very pure and gentle style, fresh and elegant, certainly vivacious and polished. And yet behind this sheen of youthfulness there is a very bold and rather tertiary character. Overall, brilliantly fresh yet also subtly mature. Lovely wine. From a tasting at Bollinger. 17.5/20 (September 2009)

Bollinger Grande Année 1996: A fine, lemon gold hue, and a very tight and sparse bead. Wonderful nose, brimming with potential. Very well defined and taut and clean, just a little nutty character. Fresh, limpid, gentle but very persistent mousse couples very nicely with firm acidity and a very broad palate showing some very early mature character. Delicious potential. The most indrawn, most tightly coiled of these wines, but so lovely, and just brimming with great potential. From a 1996 Champagne tasting. 18.5+/20 (August 2007)

Bollinger La Grande Année 1995: This is a highly regarded vintage by the Bollinger team. It is certainly more mature and evolved on the nose than the 2000, showing good secondary characteristics including mushroom and coffee, latter showing more caramelly style. This is very open and expressive, forceful and brimming with character, and these qualities carry through onto the palate where there are notes of honey, brazil nuts and dried mushrooms, later hints of truffles and dried oranges. This has a great style and lots of impact, and although very evolved it has wonderful acidity suggesting it will continue to develop for a few years yet. Great finish. This is wonderful. From a tasting at Bollinger. 18.5+/20 (September 2009)

Bollinger Grande Année 1995: Fantastic nose here, with a mix of nuts and marzipan, yeast and biscuits. Clear elegance on the palate, with a great depth of fruit coming through, with the same nuts and marzipan complexity. Wonderful balancing acidity and a soft mousse. Lovely stuff. Drinking well now, but sure to improve with further bottle age. From an Oddbins tasting. 18/20 (November 2001)

Bollinger La Grande Année 1992: This was a difficult year, marked by the presence of a lot of botrytis. This bottle was disgorged in 1999, and so has seen significant post-disgorgement ageing. On the nose it has a much more mineral style, chalky and lemony, with a herbal-vegetal note coming through also. It has a good crunchy style, is tightly defined, with nuances of crushed nuts and roasted vegetables, followed by more typical aromas of mushroom and coffee, although with a mint highlight. Still broad, full and rich in terms of texture, and certainly evolved (albeit in a very different style to the 1995). Very good. From a tasting at Bollinger. 17/20 (September 2009)

Bollinger Grande Année 1992: Creamy, yeasty and rich on the nose. Some good complexities on the palate, freshly baked biscuits and fresh warm bread, with obvious leesy notes. Soft, balancing acidity. A delightful wine, and good quality for a poor vintage. For early drinking whilst you are waiting for the 1990 to come around. 17.5/20 (December 2000)

Bollinger Grande Année 1990: Not quite the last of my bottles of this vintage. A moderate golden hue here, this is a wine showing some maturity in appearance for sure. Unlike my last bottle which seemed a little soft at first, this one seemed quite glorious from the very beginning. We have a firm and nutty nose here, with brazil nut and walnut, alongside notes of baked honey, mushroom and golden, polished wood. No signs of oxidation. Beautifully full and fresh on the palate, firm with a good backbone of acidity, and a finely crisp mousse. Delicious stuff, full-flavoured, with a panoply of flavours that mirror the nose, and a wonderful length. I had read that the 1990 vintage was on its way over the hill, but the vigour and composition shown by this bottle would seem to refute that assertion. Great wine. 18.5/20 (September 2009)

Bollinger Grande Année 1990: A rich, light golden hue in the glass, and a sparse bead of moderate sized bubbles. The nose starts off a little muddy and confused, but I think it just needs a little air contact, as with some time it settles to reveal an array of mature aromas, of coffee, toffee, brazil nuts, honey, mushrooms and truffles, with a little note of burnt caramel. I was at first concerned that there may be a whiff of oxidation, but this worry soon disappeared as the wine opened up, and it seemed to integrate in the glass into a very nice, savoury, winey style. Full, but vibrant and sparkling, with a pervasive mousse, it has a defined and incisive but quite fine character, with evolved flavours nicely supported by the acidity and that touch of sparkle. An excellent wine which has certainly advanced in the last two years, but it isn't over the hill yet. For label images and more see my Wine of the Week write-up. 18.5/20 (February 2009)

Bollinger Grande Année 1990: A rich, golden hue, exactly as I commented one year ago. A nice bead, quite sparse and fine after a minute or two in the glass though. Very mature character here, caramel, praline, polished oak and even a touch of molasses. A fresh acid backbone on the palate, supporting a fine vinous character and a lot of substance. Toffee and coffee complexities, overall very well defined, rich, and still with plenty of potential. Great, very firm finish. Very fine indeed. A 2007 Christmas wine. 18.5/20 (December 2007)

Bollinger Grande Année 1990: A rich, golden hue, much more so than the previous wine. And so much more open on the nose also, which has a rich, praline, nutty-oily character. Simply gorgeous. Firm and meaty, very much in the Bollinger style on the palate, nicely developed, and a huge presence. Rounded and full of texture, but there is a fine, carrying acidity as well. With a rich panoply of flavours spiced with apples and nuts, this is another simply lovely wine that is open for business right now. A Christmas Wine. 18.5/20 (December 2006)

Bollinger Grande Année 1990: An impressive, rich golden colour, and a fine bead. And what a nose, classic Pinot-dominated Bollinger, with toasty-biscuit and almond aromas. Rich, with creamy mousse, fine acidity and a stylish flavour profile of toasty yeast. Good, full texture through the midpalate and an impressive finish. This is brilliant, and should continue to improve and drink well for eight to ten years. 18.5+/20 (January 2004)

Bollinger Grande Année 1989: Another honeyed nose. A rich, honey and biscuit palate. Again quite dominate by the acidity, but with a good mousse and balancing rich flavours. From an 1989 Champagne tasting. 17.5/20 (June 2000)

Bollinger Grande Année 1985: The colour stands out compared to the other wines. Classic meaty-cheesy Bollinger nose, of honey and nuts, oiled oak and Stilton. Big, concentrated, flavoursome palate. Mature, honey and oil. A gentle mousse though, with a full, creamy palate and fresh, firm acidity. Lovely. Although Bollinger's straight vintage wine, this was tasted in a Prestige Cuvée Champagne tasting. 17.5/20 (September 2004)

Tasting notes are ordered by date of tasting, most recent first. I have tried to indicate whether it is a tasting of a new release, or of a wine I have cellared.

Bollinger Special Cuvée NV: One of several bottles tasted during this trip. This particular cuvée is a blend of 2005 and 2004 vintages (the 2004 stored in steel) in roughly equal proportions, in total accounting for 90% of the wine, with 10% reserve wines (stored in magnums under cork). Overall the blend is 60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier. Some of the two base vintages saw fermentation in oak, as is usually the case. Disgorgement in early 2009. The nose seems mature, evolved and elegant, with notes of honeyed, polished wood; the reserve wines are in evidence here I think. An elegant palate, a fine mousse, broad but firm too. Overall this has a finer, more delineated composition than I recall from tastings of previous incarnations of this cuvée. Very good, and it seems ready now. From a tasting at Bollinger. 16.5/20 (September 2009)

Bollinger Rosé NV: This is the same blend as for Special Cuvée but was produced one year earlier, so here the base vintages are 2003 and 2004. There is 5% red wine added. The colour is fairly bright, a smoked-salmon pink. The nose has a little raspberry-toffee sweetness at first, a nuance which quickly passed, leaving little notes of cherry, plum and creamy honeycomb. Elegant on the palate, full, a gentle mousse, and fine acidity. Overall harmonious, stylish, reserved, although with a firm finish. From a tasting at Bollinger. 16.5/20 (September 2009)

Bollinger Rosé NV: Current release. A pink, onion-skin hue, and a nose of wet pebbles and strawberry leaves. The palate is attractive, vibrant and rather pure in style, with a clean and firm core of acidity. There is a good polish to this. It needs a few years in my opinion, but could be very good given that time. From the 2009 annual Champagne tasting. 15.5-16+/20 (March 2009)

Bollinger Special Cuvée NV: Purchased Summer 2005. A maturing, nutty, bacon and mushroom nose. A fresh palate, lively, firm and with a delicate mousse. It has bright, pervasive and incisive acidity, providing a lovely frame for the elegant, cottony texture. It develops a little grip towards the finish which persists nicely. Overall it has a lovely, winey, supple and sappy presence on the palate, with a firm, peppery finish with nutty nuances. Rather short finish, but all the pleasure is here. 16.5/20 (June 2008)

Bollinger Special Cuvée NV: Current release. An appealing nose, woody-oily character, finely polished with notes of dried fruits. Full but with a bright mousse on the palate, and a fine acidic backbone. This is very nicely composed, with a firm, structured finish. Typically Bollinger, yet perhaps a touch more accessible than I would usually expect. Very good. From the 2008 annual Champagne tasting. 16.5+/20 (March 2008)

Bollinger Special Cuvée NV: A tasting of the latest release of the NV cuvée. This has a rather typical nose for Bollinger, of oiled wood and the mature note of oak fermented reserve wines. Full, dry, somewhat organic in character, with citrus orange notes through the midpalate. It is big and rich, a full bodied style, a touch oaky, with a fading mousse on the palate. Good acidity. Very good. From the 2007 Champagne Information Bureau Tasting. 16/20 (March 2007)

Bollinger Special Cuvée NV: A pale golden hue, with a fairly fine bead. Sweet biscuit notes on the nose, reflecting the Pinot-dominated (60% PN and 15% PM) encépagement, with evident complexity from the reserve wines. This is always the case with the Special Cuvée, as although the reserve wines account for less than 10% of the blend they include wines up to fifteen years of age. Full, biscuit and apple character with oak tones through the midpalate. Fresh, with a firm mousse. A fairly complex, mouth-filling non-vintage cuvée, this bottling showing particularly well. Very good indeed. 17/20 (November 2005)

Bollinger Special Cuvée NV: Purchased Spring 2002; approaching three years further cellar age. Pale hue. Very fine bead indeed. Evolved nose, with coffee and caramel, honey and coconut macaroons. Fresh, with a very gentle, sparkling, pétillant mousse. Quite light, no great impact or body, but with some nice bitter coffee notes. Plenty of interest here. Just gone over peak I think, and my last bottle (I think). 15.5/20 (February 2005)

Bollinger Special Cuvée NV: Purchased Spring 2002; two years further bottle age. A pale gold hue and a sparse, small bead. Typical Bollinger on the nose, with a buttercream richness wrapped around white fruits. Despite the cellar time this still has firm structure and acidity and plenty of primary fruit flavours, although with air it does reveal more mature aromas of coffee and caramel - most likely signs of development from the Chardonnay. A firm, slightly foamy mousse. Will improve further and I think I might have another bottle or two buried somewhere. 15.5/20 (June 2004)

Bollinger Special Cuvée NV: Purchased Spring 2002; twelve months further bottle age. A lemon-gold hue. Very typical Bollinger on the nose, which has rich, meaty, marzipan aromas, with nuances of toffee and yeast autolysis. The palate is lovely, quite classic yet also rich and structured. More nutty, almond aromas, carried by good acidity and structure. It's showing some characteristics of maturity on the palate, but the wine would still benefit from a year or two more in the cellar. Classic Bollinger. This non-vintage Champagne is a mini Grand Année if I ever tasted one. Definite development even over just a few months. Assessed in a non vintage Champagne tasting. 16/20 (May 2003)

Bollinger Special Cuvée NV: Purchased Spring 2002; nine months further bottle age. Slow to open on the nose, initially giving just some lemony white fruits and a few autolytic notes. With time there is more subtle coffee and toffee aromas. Similar nuances on the palate, but still surprisingly tight and with good acidity. Having already spent almost a year in the cellar, this wine is in need of more time. Who says NV cuvées are sold ready to drink? 16+/20 (February 2003)

Bollinger Special Cuvée NV: A tasting of the cuvée on the market at the time. More yeast is evident on the nose than I recall from previous cuvées. Nevertheless, a more typical combination of fresh apple yeast flavours are evident on the palate, with good lemony acidity. A toast and biscuit edge develops. Soft and creamy mousse. A good, clean NV wine. From an Oddbins tasting. 15.5/20 (November 2001)

Bollinger Special Cuvée NV: Purchased Summer 2000; six months further bottle age. Quite a rich colour, and a fine bead. Aromas of Bramley Apples fill the room on popping the cork. In the glass it has a rich, heady, leesy nose, with a touch of lemon curd. Likewise leesy and lemony on the palate, with a soft but persistent mousse which has a creamy edge. Balanced, fresh acidity. Good finish. 15.5+/20 (December 2000)

Bollinger Special Cuvée NV: A tasting of the NV cuvée on the market at the time; possibly the same wine as above. A creamy, yeasty nose. A soft mousse which doesn't fade, with a good balance of fruit and lemony acidity. From a Portland Wine tasting. 16.5/20 (December 2000)