2008 Bollinger Extra-Brut R.D.
The Wine Advocate
RP 98+
Reviewed by:William Kelley
Release Price:NA
Drink Date:2025 - 2045
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.

The 2008 vintage was a great success for Bollinger, and I had been looking forward to tasting the R.D. for some time. Readers interested in more background on this cuvée, as well as tasting notes on older iterations back to 1955, are directed to my article published in the August 2022 Week 3 issue of The Wine Advocate, which delves into the origins of R.D., how it is made and its evolution over time.

Published: Mar 10, 2023

非常に表情豊かで、赤い果実やトロピカルフルーツの香りがあります。
繊細で幻想的な香りが完璧に調和し、さまざまな世界観が感じ取れます。
口に含むと白い果実や柑橘類の果実味が感じられ、グラニースミス（リンゴ）の酸味と肉厚のツルコケモモ、生き生きとしたブラッドオレンジの風味が融合。
しなやかでシルキーな口当たりが、よりエレガントなワインに仕上げます。
フィニッシュには塩味のタッチがあり、この新しいキュヴェに最後の華やかさを加えます。

NV Bollinger Brut Blanc de Noirs PN VZ19
The Wine Advocate
RP 94
Reviewed by:William Kelley
Release Price:NA
Drink Date:2024 - 2040
The latest rendition of Bollinger's blended blanc de noirs bottling is the NV Brut Blanc de Noirs PN VZ19; it is based on the 2019 vintage, which represents 52% of the blend, and the village of Verzenay, which accounts for the origin of 40% of this bottling's components. 2019 is complemented by fully 48% reserve wines, and above all, fully a quarter derives from 2009; and it has the tension of Verzenay by Aÿ, Avenay-Val-d'Or, Tauxières and Mutigny. If all that sounds complicated, the wine's appeal is easier to see, as it offers up a demonstrative bouquet of yellow stone fruit, mandarin and praline, followed by a medium to full-bodied, pure and pillowy palate that's charming, even giving, but also attractively racy, concluding with a saline finish. It was disgorged with six grams per liter dosage. This doesn't tower above its 2018-base counterpart (perhaps unsurprisingly, as the percentage of reserve wines in this bottling is so high), but it does seem to be marginally the strongest iteration of this cuvée to date.

One of Champagne's reference points, Bollinger's serious approach to farming, Pinot Noir-dominated style, commitment to barrel fermentation and maturation and superb palette of prime terroirs mark it out as one of the leading Grandes Marques today. These new releases are two blanc de noirs. One is the latest rendition of the house's NV bottling, which highlights different predominating villages with every iteration. The other is the 2014 Vieilles Vignes Françaises, which is one of my favorite wines but one I drink all too seldom given its tiny production and lofty price tag.

Published: Aug 16, 2024

2015 Bollinger Brut La Grande Année
The Wine Advocate
RP 95+
Reviewed by:William Kelley
Release Price:NA
Drink Date:2025 - 2045
The 2015 Brut La Grande Année was disgorged last year with eight grams per liter dosage. The wine has turned out beautifully, exhibiting a more muscular, old-school Bollinger profile in contrast to the unusually racy, fine-boned 2014 that preceded it. Wafting from the glass with notes of pear, orange oil and white flowers mingled with notions of mocha, toasted hazelnuts and fino sherry, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and textural, with a dense core of fruit framed by chalky structuring extract, concluding with a long, sapid finish.

Today, the 2015 Champagne vintage enjoys a mixed reputation, largely because some wines show an herbal aromatic signature indicative of incomplete maturation resulting from hydric stress. But of course, it's hard to generalize about so large a region, whose diversity of terroirs is compounded by equally diverse agronomic approaches, and the success of Bollinger's 2015s is a case in point. Why have these wines turned out so well? The house's best terroirs are located on chalk, so their vines experienced less hydric stress. Bollinger's practice of vinifying small lots in barrel and blending comparatively late also permitted the elimination of any lots showing herbaceous characteristics that other houses would likely have blended during vinification. The result is a Grande Année derived from only 11 of the potential 20 communes that can inform the blend, with an emphasis on the Montagne de Reims in the blend to bring more cut. Harvest started on September 8, and the lack of water throughout the season and, particularly at "nouaison," the moment when the infant berries form, resulted in 30% less berry mass than an average year. Those small berries without much juice made pressing more challenging than usual, but they have delivered a wine framed by unusually high levels of dry extract that contributes real phenolic mid-palate weight that will delight readers who love vinous, sapid Champagnes that are built to age.

Published: Mar 30, 2024

正規輸入品です

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.

正規輸入品です

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.

正規輸入品です　
大きなマグナムサイズです！

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.

ギフトボックス入りです。

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.