It is finally the height of Summer. Cue the sparkling white wine that has come to define any celebration – in this case, the glorious warm season. When most people think of prestige champagne, most think of Bolly , the affectionate term for Bollinger Champagne, as a reliably joyful stalwart – perhaps because it is such a strong part of culture here. Edina and Patsy lived off it. It pops up in most if not all the Bond movies. It has a Royal Warrant dating back to Queen Victoria.
Founded in 1829 in the village of Aÿ (also home to many other houses including Veuve Clicquot & Moët et Chandon) in the Vallée de la Marne subregion of Champagne, it was originally called Renaudin Bollinger, becoming known just as Bollinger in the nineteen sixties. It is still family run – Ghislain de Mongolfier, great-grandson of the founder, has managed Bollinger since 1994.
One of the prime strengths of the Bollinger champagnes is its vines. Its 174 hectares of vines can be divided into seven main vineyards, 85% of which are Grand and Premiers Crus, making this estate one of the rare few in Champagne to produce its own grapes used in the blend. The house’s signature variety, Pinot Noir , specifically clone 386, represents roughly 60% of the vineyard’s total planted vines. The vineyards also include some ungrafted French vines from before the 19th century phylloxera epidemic that devastated European grapevines and led to most European vines being grafted to resistant North American rootstocks.
Bollinger’s rigorous processes are also legendary – from sourcing of the grapes to the fermentation in small oak barrels and maturation of each vintage for over ten years, twice the length of time required by the appellation. Timeless tradition methods are used to ensure a consistent taste including manual riddling of bottles (a laborious process where bottles are placed on special racks called pupitres that hold them at a 35° angle and are given a turn alternately on the left and right every two days for and dropped back into the pupitres, with the angle gradually increased). Immediately after disgorging but before final corking, the liquid level is topped up with a secret Bollinger liqueur d’expédition, a practice known as dosage.
You may already know all of Bollinger’s most famous champagnes – most have tasted the Special Cuvée (non-vintage) which is the Bollinger house style. This Champagne blend uses grapes from a given year, with the addition of reserve wines making a classic, Pinot-dominated Champagnes of great potential longevity and complexity. The blend includes up to 10% reserve wines, which may be up to fifteen years old. (Composition: 60% Pinot noir, 25% Chardonnay, 15% Pinot Meunier). A deeper complexity is present in the vintage La Grande Années (also available as a rosé). The wine spends five years on its lees and is aged in bottle under cork, instead of crown seal. (Composition: 65% Pinot noir, 35% Chardonnay. The vintage R.D. which stands for récemment dégorgé (“recently disgorged”) is also cork aged, and it spends at least eight years on its lees,. In the mid-1990s, Bollinger sold Année Rare, which was an R.D. that had undergone longer aging on the lees.
One of Glass’ favourites is the vintage Vieille Vignes Françaises, a blanc de noirs is made in small quantity with wine from two small plots of ungrafted rootstock planted in low density vineyards, Clos St-Jacques in Aÿ and Chaudes Terres in Aÿ, which produce a third less juice per vine, creating a superb richness. Finally, if you can find it , the Coteaux Champenois La Côte aux Enfants is a red wine is produced from grapes grown on the south-facing slope of the 100% Échelle des Crus vineyard (signifiying the most valuable grapes), the Côte aux Enfants in Aÿ.
So gather and enjoy the sub whilst we have it and now – with the crash course in Bolly – savour the joy of truly timeless champers. Chin chin!