Champagne Bollinger owns an impressive 178 hectares of vineyards, of which 85% are in Grand Cru and Premier Cru villages. Their land is spread over seven main villages: Aÿ, Avenay, Louvois, Tauxières and Verzenay planted with Pinot Noir; Cuis with Chardonnay; and Champvoisy with Meunier. Bollinger are one of the few Houses to produce the majority of their own grapes for their blends. Pinot Noir represents 60% of the House's vineyards and defines the House style: complex and powerful with remarkable structure. In 2012 Champagne Bollinger was certified High Environment Value (HEV) this certification rewards a number of environmental procedures implemented at the Maison.

Bollinger's Special Cuvée champagne is representative of their vineyards. With 60% of the House's vineyards producing Pinot Noir, this grape is the predominate variety in the Special Cuvée blend. Bollinger allow their non-vintage to mature on lees for 3-4 years, as they believe that great champagne dominant in Pinot Noir needs time to develop its full character. Champagne Bollinger are the only Maison to age a proportion of their reserve wines in magnum, at any one time they have around 800,000 reserve wine magnums, representing around a 10% of their total reserve wine stocks. They are kept solely for Special Cuvée, to which they typically contribute 5-10% of the final blend, usually from five or six different years and five or six different crus. The remainder of the non-vintage reserve wine content comes from tanks, which are kept for a maximum of four years. These magnums aged under low pressure mature in a more complex way than wine in a large tank. The Jeroboam will receive an extra 1-2 years of time on the lees.

Technical Information:
Vineyards: 85% Grand & Premier Cru
Grape Varieties: 60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay, 15% Meunier
Base Vintage: 2018
Reserve Wines: 45-55%
Disgorged: May 2022
Lees Ageing: 4 years
Dosage : 8 g/l
Drink: Now for 10+ years

Tasting Note: A golden colour with a beautifully fine mousse. The nose has the trademark smoky charm typical in Jeroboam size bottles, combined with ripe fruit and spicy aromas. On the palate, rich apple and peach notes burst through with lots of bitter orange. Hints of brioche and fresh walnut linger on the lasting finish to enhance this powerful Special Cuvée.

This jeroboam comes in a luxury wooden box; although the photograph shows two jeroboams when you order one you will receive one jeroboam.

Champagne Bollinger have been creating prestigious champagnes with character, distinguished by their elegance and complexity, since 1829. The story began when the son of a noble family, Athanase de Villermont, inherited an extensive estate in the Aÿ region. Foreseeing the extraordinary potential of the wines of Champagne, he founded the firm Renaudin-Bollinger & Cie upon meeting Joseph Bollinger, a widely travelled German and Paul Renaudin, a local man fascinated by the world of wine. Nearly two hundred years later, Bollinger are one of the biggest names in the region and are famously the preferred champagne brand of fictional British Secret Service agent, James Bond.

The House owns an impressive 178 hectares of vineyards, of which 85% are Grand Cru and Premier Cru vines. Their land is spread over seven main vineyards: Aÿ, Avenay, Louvois, Tauxières and Verzenay planted with Pinot Noir; Cuis with Chardonnay; and Champvoisy with Meunier. Bollinger are one of the few Houses to produce the majority of their own grapes for their blends. Pinot Noir represents 60% of the House's vineyards and defines the House style: complex and powerful with remarkable structure. In 2012 it was certified HIGH ENVIRONMENTAL VALUE (HEV) this certification rewards a number of environmental procedures implemented at the Champagne Bollinger vineyard, such as the large-scale reduction in the use of vine protection products, the implementation of organic pesticide treatments across the entire vineyard, energy recovery from pruning waste, the application of experimental organic farming on a section of the vineyard, and the numerous other actions carried out to protect biodiversity and embellish the vineyard.

Cellar Master: Denis Bunner
Winery Location: Aÿ | Champagne, France
Champagne Region: Vallée de la Marne
Annual Production (bottles): 2,500,000