2008 Bollinger • Extra-Brut R.D.
Rating 98+ points
Release Price NA
Drink Date 2025 - 2045
Reviewed by William Kelley
Issue Date 10th Mar 2023
Source March 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate
When I was tasting Bollinger's brilliant Grande Année in this vintage, I was trying to imagine how good the 2008 Extra-Brut R. D. would be, as the style of the vintage seems almost perfectly adapted to this cuvée. Four years later, we have the answer, and the wine is brilliant. Disgorged in 2022, it's more reserved out of the gates than the dramatic Grande Année was on release, unwinding in the glass with notes of crisp orchard fruit, orange peel, freshly baked bread, subtle hints of fino sherry, wet stones and macadamia nut. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, with a deep core of fruit that's animated by racy acids and a refined pinpoint mousse, concluding with a bone-dry finish. Extremely harmonious and full of youthful energy, it's the finest R. D. of the decade and one that will richly reward a bit of additional age on cork. In style, the most obvious comparison is with the 1996, but the 2008 is more integrated and harmonious on release. These bottles were disgorged late last year with three grams per liter dosage.
2014 Bollinger • Brut La Grande Année
Reviewed by William Kelley
Issue Date 8th Mar 2022
Source March 2022 Week 1, The Wine Advocate
Rating 95 points
Release Price NA
Drink Date 2021 - 2045
Offering up complex aromas of crisp yellow orchard fruit, confit citrus, frangipane, walnuts, dried white flowers and subtle hints of iodine, Bollinger's 2014 Brut La Grande Annee is medium to full-bodied, pillowy and vinous, with an elegantly fleshy core of fruit that's underpinned by racy acids and complemented by a pretty pinpoint mousse. Concluding with a long, chalky finish, this is a charming but precise Grande Annee that's more giving and demonstrative than its immediate predecessor, the 2012, but which attains a very similar level of quality in a more challenging vintage?testimony to the serious viticulture that underpins Bollinger's contemporary excellence.
NV Bollinger Brut Blanc de Noirs PN TX17
Reviewed by William Kelley
Issue Date 1st Sep 2022
Source Issue 262 End of August 2022, The Wine Advocate
Rating 92 points
Release Price NA
Drink Date 2021 - 2033
From the commune of Tauxieres and the 2017 vintage, Bollinger's new NV Brut Blanc de Noirs PN TX17 exhibits aromas of crisp pear, orange zest and wet stones mingled with subtle hints of warm bread and dried fruits. Medium to full-bodied, pillowy and fleshy, with tangy acids and impressive ripeness for the vintage, it concludes with an elegantly mordant finish. This doesn't strike me as a year built to make old bones, but it should nonetheless enjoy over a decade's evolution.
黄金色。複雑な香り、熟した果実とスパイス。 焼きりんごコンポートの香り。 ブリオッシュ、スパイス、クルミを感じる。 ベルベットのように滑らかな泡立ち。 骨格、持続性とハツラツ感が絶妙なコンビネーション。
ピノ・ノワール60% シャルドネ25% ピノ・ムニエ15%
NV Bollinger • Brut Special Cuvée
Reviewed by William Kelley
Issue Date 1st Sep 2022
Source Issue 262 End of August 2022, The Wine Advocate
Rating 92p
Release Price NA
Drink Date 2021 - 2035
Like its rosé counterpart, the latest release of Bollinger's NV Brut Special Cuvée is showing especially well, bursting from the glass with aromas of honeyed apples, crisp stone fruit, buttery pastry, ripe lemons and fresh walnuts. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and vinous, with a deep core of beautifully ripe fruit, racy acids and a pillowy mousse, it's a charming, characterful wine that proves that Special Cuvée is firmly back where it belongs.
2007 Bollinger Extra-Brut R. D.
Reviewed by William Kelley
Issue Date 5th Mar 2021
Source March 2021 Week 1, The Wine Advocate
Rating 97 points
Release Price NA
Drink Date 2021 - 2037
Disgorged on July 10, 2020, with three grams per liter dosage, Bollinger's eagerly awaited 2007 Extra-Brut R. D. is beautiful, unwinding in the glass with aromas of crisp orchard fruit, citrus pith and white flowers mingled with hints of honey, orange oil, buttery pastry, English walnuts and delicately spicy bass notes. Full-bodied, vibrant and incisive, it's unusually elegant and structurally fine-boned for what is routinely one of Champagne's more muscular tête de cuvées, with a bright spine of acidity that's cloaked in vibrant, concentrated fruit, complemented by a pearly pinpoint mousse and concluding with an intensely sapid finish. Long and penetrating, this is a tightly coiled R. D. that will reward bottle age.
2002 Bollinger • Extra-Brut R.D.
Reviewed by William Kelley
Issue Date 19th Aug 2022
Source August 2022 Week 3, The Wine Advocate
Reviewed by William Kelley
Issue Date 19th Aug 2022
Source August 2022 Week 3, The Wine Advocate
Rating 95p
Release Price NA
Drink Date 2015 - 2030
I've encountered some bottle variation with Bollinger's 2002 Extra-Brut R. D., but this example, disgorged in 2016, was showing especially well, offering up a deep bouquet of dried fruits, orange zest, mocha, spices, English walnuts and hazelnuts. Full-bodied, broad and enveloping, with a pillowy, seamless profile and a fleshy core, it concludes with a long, sapid finish. With two grams per liter less acidity than the more incisive 2008 (which has not yet been released as R. D.), the 2002 is a giving, expansive wine that is drinking well today.
I've encountered some bottle variation with Bollinger's 2002 Extra-Brut R. D., but this example, disgorged in 2016, was showing especially well, offering up a deep bouquet of dried fruits, orange zest, mocha, spices, English walnuts and hazelnuts. Full-bodied, broad and enveloping, with a pillowy, seamless profile and a fleshy core, it concludes with a long, sapid finish. With two grams per liter less acidity than the more incisive 2008 (which has not yet been released as R. D.), the 2002 is a giving, expansive wine that is drinking well today.