Bollinger unveils La Grande Année 2008

A great vintage with an unusual blend (more Pinot Noir) and habillage (different bottle and revamped label) for this intense Champagne full of vitality.

The pieces of the puzzle continue to fall into place for vintage 2018 which was already legendary even before it reached the market. In fact, it was often anticipated by the 2009 wine and so expectations were running high for thiscuvée de prestige, almost creating a panic among buyers. The “world premiere” took place on March 27 and was repeated in Italy – a very important market for Champagne – the following day.

The year combined an exceptional coolness with a gradual and full ripening of the grapes and those who were lucky to count on a vast selection of grapes, like Bollinger with its 168 hectares of HVE sustainable vineyards, had the opportunity to create a perfect blend for a champagne de garde, in other words one that can age long.

This was the case in the unusual bend for 2008 selected by Chef de Cave Gille Descôtes, the 7th to run the Maison since 2013 but already vineyard coordinator since 2003. La Grande Année was made with the second-highest percentage of Pinot Noir in the wine’s history, 71% the remaining 29% Chardonnay, with the record of 75% held by the legendary 1969.

Also unusual was the container chosen for this new cuvée with Bollinger finally deciding to use also for its cuvée de prestige the iconic “1846” bottle, the “little magnum” it already uses for its Special Cuvée and Rosé. There was even a change to the label which now has the declaration of savoir-faire: “aged in the bottle, riddled and disgorged by hand”.

The Maison’s objective behind La Grande Année is to unite the distinctive craftsmanship behind the creation of Bollinger champagne with the excellence of food craftsmanship, thus creating a perfect circumstance for a cuvée that expresses itself best paired with great food. The style Bollinger has always sought and continues today to seek is, in fact, based factors that are capable of exalting La Grande Année. The first is, undoubtedly, the use of wood, with fermentation exclusively taking place in small, oak casks (which are an average 20 years old) and previous used by Domaine Chanson in Burgundy, owned by the Bollinger family, which is probably the last to employ its own Master Cooper who looks after the barriques. La Grande Année’s second pillar is the choice to riddle and disgorge by hand, which takes place after the wine has matured on the lees in the bottle closed by a cork, a process that involves a micro-oxidation that gives the wine an even more complex aromatic palette.

There will not be a Rosé version of La Grande Année 2008 and the Aÿ Maison has selected this exceptional vintage to reiterate Bollinger’s established tradition, an identifying style that for over 150 years has represented a point of reference and which this new habillage has enhanced from a visual perspective.

La Grande Année 2008

97/100 – € 160

A blend made mostly from grapes from 18 crus the Maison owns in Grand and Premier Cru villages, with Aÿ and Verzenay providing much of the blend’s 71% Pinot Noir, while the 29% of Chardonnay is from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Cramant. The dégorgement of the bouchon liège was done by hand in July 2019 with a sugar dosage of 8g/l.

The wine has a golden color, created by the fermentation style, which announced the richness of the texture. The aroma is intense but is immediately distinguished by a very great freshness, while the bouquet has notes of yuzu and grapefruit, white peach and gooseberry, followed by sensations of toasted barley and honey, nuances of grated ginger and saffron. The mouthfeel is very taut and full of vitality, with a very precise citrus progression and a compact texture that differs a bit from the broad generosity of previous vintages in order to focus an unexpected cleanliness, freshness and hypertension. It will certainly be interesting to see how this “Bollinger-esque” interpretation of La Grande Année, which gave greater space to the harvest than to the Maison’s style, evolves.

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