BollingerPN AYC18

12.5% alcohol. The idea behind this cuvée is to explore the way Bollinger work with Pinot Noir, their main variety. This is 100% Pinot Noir, mainly from Aÿ, but also from Tauxières and Verzenay. The base year is 2018, but it’s a multivintage blend with the oldest vintage 2009 (overall, 47% of reserve wines in the blend, adding a lot of depth and richness). Dosage is 6g/litre. The base vintage was a warm one, with good yields and an early harvest (the first grapes were picked August 15th). Just the best (cuvée) press fraction was used for this wine. It’s a rich, complex Champagne, but shows beautiful balance, with notes of cherry, marzipan, honey, toasted almonds and also some crystalline citrus. Rich and viscous, with a full dynamic range, starting with sweet bass notes of ripe, luxurious fruit and toast, and then finishing with the treble of bright lemons and some lime. Sophisticated and intense, this has so much Pinot personality, so I reckon Bollinger have succeeded with their quest. So compelling and satisfying.

A wine of constant surprise and contrast, first with the heat and generosity of 2018 offering up voluminous roasted apricots and apples, a bittersweet orange citrus and peach kernel richness, a surprisingly silky and flowing mousse and finally an intriguing, smoky, reductive element coming from the magnum reserve wines. It’s a hugely engaging, detailed and rewarding wine, bold but refined. 100% Pinot Noir, predominantly from Aÿ, with support from the villages of Tauxières and Verzenay. Based on the 2018 vintage, with 50% reserve wines back to 2009.