I will never forget the Berlin master class in 2018 for the launch of the R. D. 2014: it was not only an opportunity to taste the house’s flagship magnum (apart from the Vieilles Vignes Françaises speciality) alongside its predecessors from 2002 and 1996. It was also a chance to experience how significant the influence of aeration can be on great champagnes. On that day, I learned how much mature vintages benefit from being decanted.
In 2022, after a long break due to the coronavirus pandemic, Bollinger invited guests to the SkyKitchen in Frankfurt, high above the banking metropolis on the Main River. Once again, Denis Bunner, the charming deputy cellar master of the house, led the program. Bunner has become something of a face of the Maison for Bollinger outside France. You don’t need to be a prophet to predict that he will one day follow in the footsteps of chef de cave Gilles Dêscotes. The topic this time: the influence of wood on Champagne Bollinger. The Grande Année 2014 and Grande Année 2014 Rosé were presented for the first time.
Wood as a stylistic device
Among the great champagne houses, Bollinger is one of the last to use wood aging as an essential stylistic device. This generally results in powerful, very full-bodied champagnes that are ideal accompaniments to food. The house owns a good 4,000 wooden barrels, mainly in two sizes and of very different ages: on the one hand, there are used 228-liter pièces from Burgundy, which come to Aÿ from the subsidiary Chanson in Burgundy at the age of four or five years, and on the other hand, there are 410-liter “pipes champenoises.” This unusual format has to do with the traditional presses of the region, which could process 4,000 kilograms of grapes. These yield 2,050 liters of premium must, known as the “cuvée.” This can then be filled into either exactly ten 205-liter pièces or five 410-liter pipes.
The first flights
The first flight of the day focused on the age of the barrels and its influence on the sensory characteristics of the base wines. In fact, the average age of the barrels at Bollinger is around 20 years. These include the youngest generation of “four-year-olds” from Burgundy, as well as pipes that are up to 100 years old. The three samples were Vins Clairs, i.e., base wines from 2021. Specifically: Pinot Noir (naturally white) from Aÿ. The first two, as it turned out later, were aged in 228-liter barrels (sample 1 from four-year-old barrels, sample 2 from 25-year-old barrels). The third was from 50-year-old 410-liter barrels. The sensory differences were obvious: from a fruity, somewhat superficial aroma at the beginning to a rather sparse, acid-dominated style. Only in the assemblage, the constantly evolving work on the “style de la maison,” will these characteristics be harmonized.
Flight 2 was more experimental in nature. In fact, the house style of every maison is under considerable pressure, especially due to the climate crisis. Every champagne producer is currently trying to preserve the freshness that is an essential signature of champagne through measures in the vineyard and in the cellar. Glasses four and five contained Pinot Noirs from the 2019 vintage from Verzenay – a cru that, together with Aÿ, forms the red heart of the “Grande Année.” It had already undergone bottle fermentation and had been disgorged six months ago. Sample 4 was aged in an experimental barrel encased in steel (I assume these are the new “Fûts inox” from Barrels Delafont, which I saw for the first time in 2021 at the Torres winery Purgatori). Sample 5 was aged in old 410-liter wooden barrels. The difference was striking. In the first case, the aromas were very subtle and slightly reductive. In the second case, there was enormous complexity and length. There is no doubt which one is more in line with the Bollinger style!
The new cuvées
The second part of the tasting focused on the house’s new bottlings. First, we compared La Grande Année 2014 with its immediate predecessor, 2012. The first thing that strikes you is that the cuvée has now moved significantly away from the classic rule of thumb of “70% Pinot Noir | 30% Chardonnay.” Whereas in 2012 the ratio was already 65:35, it is now 61:39. The second characteristic of the new vintage is the unusual dominance of Pinot Noir base wines from Verzenay over those from Aÿ in the blend, due to heavier rainfall during the harvest directly on the Marne.
In any case, the young vintage is still quite restrained, with a slightly adolescent fruit sweetness, but also a nice iodine line (95 points). In contrast, the 2012 is already well developed and orchestrates a complex, dark spectrum of aromas (96 points). The finale was La Grande Année 2014 Rosé, in which the base wines of the Blanc were blended with 5 percent red still wine from Bollinger’s monopole vineyard La Côte aux Enfants. A beautiful, very serious rosé champagne with cool fruit and fine salinity and restrained dosage (96 points).
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