The house of Champagne Bollinger has created prestigious champagnes with character, distinguished by their elegance and complexity since 1829. The story began with Athanase de Villermont, the youngest son of a noble family. A great soldier who shone during the American War of Independence, he inherited an extensive estate from his family in the Aÿ region. He immediately foresaw the extraordinary potential of the wines of Champagne, but as an aristocrat he was forbidden to become involved in any sort of trade.
Upon meeting Joseph Bollinger, a widely travelled German who left his country to learn about the Champagne wine trade and Paul Renaudin, a local man who was fascinated by the world of wine, the firm of Renaudin-Bollinger & Cie was founded on 6th February 1829. Joseph managed sales and Paul took charge of the cellar. Athanase had founded a Champagne House that was to endure through the centuries.
Today, Bollinger own 164 hectares of vineyards, of which 85% are Grand and Premier Cru, spread over seven main villages: Avenay, Aÿ, Louvois, Tauxières and Verzenay planted with Pinot Noir, Cuis with Chardonnay and Champvoisy with Meunier. Bollinger are one of the few Champagne Houses to produce the majority of their own grapes for their blends. Pinot Noir represents 60% of the House’s vineyards, and this is the predominant grape in their Special Cuvée blend. Complex and powerful, the black grape variety produces Bollinger champagnes with remarkable structure.
Another unique character of Bollinger wines is that the best Crus are vinified in wood thanks to a stock of 3,000 small oak casks. The House allows its wine to mature for twice as long as the appellation requirement as they believe that great champagne needs time to develop its full character.
Another of Bollinger’s distinctive features are two plots, the Clos Saint-Jacques and Chaudes Terres, which have never succumbed to phylloxera, the disease which ravaged almost all of the champagne growing area in the early 20th century. These ungrafted vines are entirely tended by hand and reproduced using a form of layering called provignage, thereby providing the means to preserve this extraordinary heritage from which the very exclusive Vieilles Vignes Françaises Cuvée is produced.
Bollinger never yields to the easy option: wherever ancestral techniques have proved to guarantee the highest quality they are preserved, however challenging this choice might prove. With hand riddling, reserve magnums and vintage cuvées stoppered with natural corks and a resident cooper the House proudly perpetuates ancient skills and valuable crafts. Bollinger is the first Champagne House to obtain the highly respected Patrimoine Vivant (living heritage) seal of quality which rewards exceptional craftsmanship and skill.
In 2008, for the first time in its history, the House placed its future into the care of a Chairman who was not a family member. Their choice fell on Jérôme Philipon, a Champagne region native who had lead and impressive career in large industrial groups including Coca-Cola Enterprises. The choice might be unexpected but Champagne Bollinger has never hesitated to reject conformity for the good of the House and its champagne production.
With support of the Bollinger family, Jérôme Philipon has extended his predecessor’s programme of modernisation and investment. The House has continued to preserve its traditional expertise while incorporating the best of new technologies for the future development of the brand, both in terms of quality and commercial growth.
