A Limited Edition 2006 Rosé from Bollinger

Bollinger Rosé 2006 is a “petite Grande Année” that is already enjoyable and pleasing and reveals an unprecedented side of the important Maison’s style. 

Some harvests demand courage and the Champagne of the first decade of the new millennium saw some harvests that challenged some producers more than others. In such cases a Maison can set off to make a wine with one vision to then have to take a different direction during production to respect the standard of an iconic wine and this occurred at Bollinger with the 2006 harvest.

Bollinger’s Italian importer Meregalli has just presented a vintage Champagne that lies outside the Maison’s classic line, Rosé 2006, and being such a particular wine it has been offered in a Limited Edition box package of only 20,00O bottles. This means that there will be no La Grande Année Rosé 2006 but rather a special vintage wine, as occurred for two other particular vintages, with 2003 by Bollinger and Spectre 2009.

The 2006 harvest did not totally convince Chef de Caves Gilles Descôtes because of the unusual weather with a very cold winter followed by a very hot summer. Being unable to come out with a white bubbly, Bollinger decided to opt for only a limited edition Cuvée Rosé, a truly courageous decision considering the opinion Madame Bollinger herself had of rosé Champagne.

The aspect that the Maison focused on for this Limited Edition was undoubtedly the creation of a precious object of desire through an unprecedented packaging for the Bollinger line: with the lettering of the Maison’s name on the box and bottle recalling a Mashrabiyya, the latticework found on natural ventilation openings in traditional Arabic architecture.

Because of the difficult harvest, the Main’s initial intention was probably that of producing a La Grande Année, blending together only nine Grand and Premier wines. But what must have most convinced them to produce this vintage wine was the red wine from the Pinot Noir grapes from the celebrated Côte aux Enfants vineyard, the ace up the sleeve that makes Bollinger’s vintage rosé so extraordinary, as well as their other blends.

Here we can apply a euphemism: Bollinger Rosé 2006 is “une petite Grande Année” that is already pleasing and enjoyable and reveals an unprecedented side of the important Maison’s style.

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