PRESS COMMENTS
BOLLINGER
Aÿ, Champagne
Bollinger Rosé
It’s astonishing, supremely poised between zinq and fruit with an uplifting character that perfectly encapsulates the mood of Christmas.
Olly Smith, Waitrose Christmas
25 December 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger La Grande Année 1996
Wow - if you need a good example of the Bollinger style, or of what an oxidative style of winemaking produces in Champagne, then track some of this down. In the glass it doesn't have anything too remarkable to show, a fairly pale golden hue, quite clean and fresh, although the bead is perhaps more notable, being incredibly fine and very persistent. But on the nose this wine shows its true colours, all papery nut and dried-out driftwood, a strong oxidative seam bringing to mind the salty sea breezes that wash over Manzanilla and its environs. Later on it becomes a little broader with balancing aromas, with notes of orange zest, fresher cashew nut and mushroom. The palate has a very fine juxtaposition of bright and correct texture with crisp acidity and a very fine, tingling mousse alongside the rather expansive flavours that match the nose, although they are very firmly packaged in by the beautiful, laser-precision structure of the wine. This is gorgeous, fresh, very typical of the Bollinger style and also very long. Wonderfulstuff. 18.5/20
Chris Kissack, winedoctor.com
December 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger La Grande Année 2002
The finest sparkler on the market today. It’s sublime already but will last another decade – I can’t think of a better present!
Matthew Jukes, The Mail
December 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger Special Cuvée
I love the masculine, pinot noir-driven taste of Bollinger and this is the best deal I could ferret out this year.
Victoria Moore, Daily Telegraph
December 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger RD 1995
This is sheer class, and
a style of champagne unique
to Bollinger. It's really
a Grande Année (Bollinger's
"regular" prestige cuvee)
that has been allowed
to mature for longer. It's
remarkably fresh, though,
and is marked by an
exhilaratingly dry finish.
Jonathan Ray, GQ Magazine
1 December 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger Special Cuvee
Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut NV is another bottle that never fails to impress. It’s more full bodied than most with great depth and a long, complex finish.
Pete Stewart. The Sunday Herald
16 October 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger RD 1997
This wine was disgorged in early 2009 and has Bollinger’s distinctive deep, yeasty, nutty taste. But this is married with a tight, flickering acidity and a youthful freshness.
The Wallstreet Journal
9 September 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger Rosé
The perfect wine for a birthday – or any special occasion for that matter. This is a distinguished offering that requires a sturdy credit card, but with a tenner shaved oof the price I hope you can afford to splash out on this fabulous fizz – you certainly won’y regret it.
Matthew Jukes, The Daily Mail
3 September 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger Special Cuvée
On great form, the weighty Bollinger style is rich with a long finish.
Giles Fallowfield, Square Meal Lifestyle
1 July 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger La Grande Année Rosé 2002
Magnificent rosé, on the cusp of extra-brut. With a crushed cardinal hue, this has seamless orchard and woodland fruits, a rich vinosity and perfect uplifting acidity.
Michael Edwards, Decanter
1 July 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger La Grande Année 2002
For pure extravagance, my choice would be Bollinger La Grande Année 2002, interesting because it not only has great depth and richness but also a very low dosage.
Andrew Neather, Evening Standard
23 June 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger La Grande Annee 2002
La Grande Année is Bollinger’s Prestige Cuvée creation and it is only produced in exceptional vintages. The 1996 was one of the most profound wines that I have ever tasted. It is typically Bolly, rich, lusty, decadent and distinguished, and it still seems remarkably youthful today. I remember drumming into readers, some years ago, that they must buy every bottle they could. Fast forward six years and we have enjoyed a series of delicious, moreish La Grande Année vintages, but non have commanded the senses and engineered perfection into the DNA of the wine like this incredible 2002. It is flawless Champagne – soaring, resplendent, unnervingly firm, precise, joyous and noble. Lily Bollinger’s timeless quote has never been more apposite – “ I drink it when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and I drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it, unless I’m thirsty.” I can only add that I drink 2002 Bollinger La Grande Année to experience the art of wines in one of its most perfect forms.
Matthew Jukes, Money Week
17 June 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger Special Cuvée
Complex and full-bodied, Bollinger’s signature non-vintage is easily identified in a blind tasting b y its dry, yet refreshing, flavour, with a rich, expressive bouquet of fruity, biscuit aromas. The unique palate is built up by mixing the classic champagne blend – pinot noire, chardonnay and pinot meunier.
The Sphere
1 June 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger Rosé NV
My favourite, it’s been hailed by the critics as one of the finest in the world. Another pinot noir-dominant beauty, it’s rich and toasty with luscious raspberry fruit and a creamy mousse. After a couple of glasses of sparkle, a rosé wine tailored to the charms of a tasting plate with goodies such as Spanish cured meats, mezze or antipasti can be more amorous than a stiff, candlelit dinner.
Sam Wylie-Harris, Gloucester Citizen
5 February 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger RD 1996
Shimmering, deepening yet brightly fine gold, signaling all the power and complexity to come in the wine. As always with Bollinger, that wonderful bouncy acidity of 1996 is still fresh (unlike lesser Champagnes of the same year), the nose adopting controlled autolytic character. The mouthfeel is perfect, the mousse invigorating but not aggressive, the strong acidity melding beautifully with the wondrous vinosity of Pinot Noir very much in the driving seat. The post disgorgement aging (nearly three years) shapes a very great bottle.
Michael Edwards, World of Fine Wine
1 February 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger RD 1995
This vintage has more Chardonnay than usual and rightly so; it was an exceptional year for the great white grape. Also the malo was avoided for optimal freshness. Bright Welsh gold, with flecks of green. Chardonnay aromas of buttered toast lead on to an inherently harmonious mouthfeel, at once rich, elegant, and long. A classic Champagne and a personal favorite. In truth, though, its beautiful fruit profile is perhaps slightly less expressive on the day due to the very recent disgorgement. It might have tasted even finer if it had been allowed to recover for six months or so before being broached, 17.5 and will go higher.
Michael Edwards, World of Fine Wine
1 February 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger RD 1997
The Grande Annee '97 has always been a hard act to follow for its open, rich fullness
and fine maturity. But this is the first time that this RD has started to put on flesh
and show something of its junior brother's opulence and hedonistic pleasure in the
glass. Much better and less lean than when first shown as RD in 2008. The effect of
longer lees contact and aging in bottle is changing the hue to a lustrous gold, and
there's a spiciness that worked very well with our gravlax. I still prefer the Grande
Annee for its tones of brioche and butter (longer post-disgorgement aging), but the RD is coming out of its shell. Its liekly to taste different every time now.
Michael Edwards, World of Fine Wine
1 February 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger RD 1976
An object lesson in how careful selection of the grapes and winemaking "with feeling" can produce a Champagne from a heatwave vintage that still tastes good after 34 years. Very solid, sturdy character but miraculously with little loss of freshness and vitality. Brilliant match with the Icelandic salt cod and girolles.
Michael Edwards, World of Fine Wine
1 February 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger RD 1959
The extraordinary luxuriance and glorious fruit of the vintage, shaped by the magnificent summer, is quite undiminished. A great bottle, with a unique Sauternes-like character. Great with Comte cheese.
Michael Edwards, World of Fine Wine
1 February 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger La Grande Année Rosé 2002
Bollinger’s non-vintage rosé is among my favourites, but the 2002 is head and shoulders about anything else under £100. Beautiful, rich nose with lovely depth and complexity.
Andrew Neather, Evening Standard
10 February 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger La Grande Annee 2000
Another champagne you want to spend a bit of quality time with. Still young, there’s nonetheless plenty to enjoy in this precise but powerful wine, with its stone fruit hints, honey and white flowers.
Christine Guibert, Decanter
50 Great Wines for Christmas
January 2011
Back to Top
Bollinger Rose
The first new Bollinger release for 30 years and a truly stunning champagne. Made from mostly Pinot Noir with some Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier in the blend this is a seductive, toasty and crisp rose with summer berry flavours and a soft texture.
Dee Blackstock MW, Decanter Christmas
December 2010
Back to Top
Bollinger La Grande Annee 2000
This is a truly great champagne from a truly great producer that is drinking quite beautifully now. Delicate, gossamer bubbles, focussed, elegant, slightly honied fruit; crystalline acidity and an immense yet precise finish. Just lovely.
David Williams, The Observer,
Great 50 Festive Wines
November 2010
Back to Top
Bollinger Rose
A stately rose champagne that carries the subtle scent of raspberries and cherry blossom. So good it’s hard t know whether to sip and savour, or gulp greedily.
Victoria Moore, The Daily Telegraph,
The Ultimate Wine Guide
November 2010
Back to Top
Bollinger Rose
There’s no denying the Bollinger style here, bags of structure, richness and complexity, but lifted by aromatic purity and great finesse. Wild strawberries and raspberries mingle on the palate rounded off by a mellow fullness that lingers long on the tongue.
Chris Losh, Square Meal Lifestyle
October 2010
Back to Top
Bollinger Special Cuvee
‘The Special Cuvée is really good at the moment and is textbook Bollinger style – biscuity and yeasty, with robust acidity and a soft mousse. A serious, dry, masculine wine.’
Will Lyons, The Wall Street Journal
23 July 2010
Back to Top
Bollinger La Grande Année 2000
'The joy of the 2000 vintage Champagne is its early drinking, so although this is the current release of Grande Année, it is perfect now. Bollinger makes a big style of Champagne, really a serious wine that happens to have bubbles. There are flavours of wildflower honey, toasted brioche and candied citrus fruits, yet the long finish is clean and focused. Fabulous Champagne for food, particularly grilled langoustine.'
Hamish Anderson, The Telegraph Magaziner
10 July 2010
Back to Top
Bollinger Rosé
“Bready autolytic characters combine with a soft and smooth finish to make an elegant, complex wine. Wonderfully pure and classy.”
2010 Gold List
Sommelier Wine Awards
Richard Bampfield MW, Imbibe UK
1 May 2010
Back to Top
Bollinger La Grande Année 2000
“A great vintage year and Bollinger is one of the great champagne houses, so tuck into this rich, dreamy, beefy, nutty champagne while you still can.”
Jane Macquitty, The Times
17 March 2010
Back to Top
Bollinger La Grande Année Rosé 2002
“If you want real power and depth, Bollinger has to be it, particularly from the excellent 2002 vintage.”
Darius Sanai, Lux Magazine
1 August 2009
Back to Top
BOLLINGER PORTFOLIO PAGE