Bollinger - "Special Cuvée" Brut Champagne - NV (750ml)

Price: $79.99

Producer	Bollinger
Country	France
Region	Champagne
Varietal	Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier
Sku	29924
Size	750ml
ABV	12.00%

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Quantity in Stock: 11

60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay, 15% Pinot Meunier (Over 85% from Grands and Premiers crus vineyard sites)

• Secondary fermentation in bottle – Méthode Traditionnelle
• Aged on lees for a minimum of 36 months
• Dosage – 8–9g/Liter

Appearance - Golden color, distinctive of black grape varieties; very fine bubbles.
Nose - A beautiful aromatic complexity, ripe fruit and spicy aromas, hints of roasted apples, apple compote and peaches.
Palate - A subtle combination of structure, length and vivacity; bubbles like velvet; pear, brioche and spicy aromas, notes of fresh walnut.

Pair with any fish, especially sushi and sashimi. Seafood: shrimp, prawn, crayfish, grilled lobster. Poultry and white meat. Parmesan, good cured ham.

Bollinger Description

Bollinger is an icon in Champagne, all the more remarkable because its reputation rests entirely on the quality of its extraordinarily distinct Champagnes. Very simply, Bollinger is the outlier. The rigorous, obsessive attention to detail and preservation of artisanal, almost absurdly labor-intensive practices, makes Bollinger both a guardian of the past and, as we see with each passing year, the beacon of the future.

Each and every detail at Bollinger represents a quest for a certain form of perfection. Known around the world for powerful, polished Champagnes that are among the greatest of both Non-Vintage and Vintage Champagnes produced, any of the fundamentals to their approach and production would be special, but when taken altogether are utterly unique.

First, the Bollinger vineyards cover 405 acres, most of which are classified as Grand or Premier cru, and provide roughly two-thirds of the house’s needs. Decades ago, Bollinger wrote a quality charter that stated their own vineyard must account for at a minimum 60% of their production. This reflects their approach to always focus on quality, and not quantity.

Secondly, no producer is as associated with a single grape in Champagne as Bollinger with Pinot Noir. The most demanding grape variety to grow in the region, it forms the backbone of Bollinger’s luscious style, making up around 60% of plantings and always 60% or more of each Champagne.

Thirdly, Bollinger is the only remaining producer in the region with its own cooperage, and keeps a stock of 3,000 oak barrels for fermenting the base wines for its Non Vintage and Vintage wines. Their single cooper, an important link to historical knowledge, does not make any new barrels, rather spends his time fixing barrels, many of which are over 60 years of age. All Vintage wines are 100% barrel fermented, both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, something no other major producer does.

Fourthly, Bollinger stores its reserve wines to blend into their Non Vintage cuvées in magnum bottles, an incredibly labor-intensive process that no one today undertakes. It requires opening by hand all the magnums to blend into the Non Vintage wines, crazy work that takes a team of 7 a full month to complete every year.

Lastly, all Vintage wines are aged under cork, and not under a crown capsule (like a soda capsule). This requires that every Bollinger vintage bottle bottle is hand-riddled, and then hand disgorged. Again, an unthinkable amount of work.

Very lastly, it would be impossible not to note that Bollinger is also known for its long-time on-screen relationship with British secret agent James Bond. They have been featured as Bond’s Champagne of choice in almost every Bond movie going back to 1973.

Wine Spectator: 93 Points

"Lovely aromas and flavors of ripe black cherry and currant fruit, graphite, toast and candied Meyer lemon zest are set in this racy Champagne, with a refined, finely detailed mousse. The mouthwatering finish is long and spicy." (AN)

Wine Advocate: 92 Points

"Bollinger's NV Brut Special Cuvée is a blend of 60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier, and the grapes are mostly (more than 85%) sourced in Grand Cru and Premier Cru villages. The majority of the Special Cuvée is reserve wines, part of which have been aged in magnums for five to 15 years. The disgorgement I tasted in May 2018 displays an intense golden-citrus color and has a refreshing, concentrated bouquet of citrus fruits, sweet cherries, ripe apples, white flowers, toast, walnuts, ripe apricots and peaches, with just a touch of brioche. On the palate, this is an intense, very elegant and refined cuvée with a very long, refreshing, intense, aromatic and salty finish. This is an excellent Champagne with a beautiful chalky texture in the aftertaste." (SR) (6/2018)

Wine Enthusiast: 92 Points

"The classic Bollinger non-vintage is, as always, rich and firmly structured. With the roundness that comes from aging the wines in wood before blending, it has a ripe, smooth edge. Underneath, the texture is solid, with hints of apple and pear and mature acidity." (12/2012)

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