Millésima's Bollinger selection covers the full range of this famous Champagne house, from the non-vintage Brut to late-disgorged cuvées, from the vintage La Grande Année to the single-vineyard Blanc de Noirs of the PN collection. This selection is defined by the three pillars of the Bollinger house, three constants that have never been abandoned: Pinot Noir, oak-aged vinification, and cellar ageing far exceeding the appellation's requirements.
Which Bollinger champagne should you choose?
To discover the House
Special Cuvée is the natural entry point into the range. A non-vintage Brut dominated by Pinot Noir, it carries the house's signature: fine bubbles, notes of pear and fresh walnut, and a spicy touch on the finish. It is also the most versatile cuvée, enjoyable at any time and even at the table alongside shellfish, fish, or even white meats.
To pair with food
The Extra Brut wines and La Grande Année were designed to accompany a meal. Long ageing and barrel vinification give them the body, depth and length needed to stand up to a dish. Lower dosages also allow for a better harmony with food.
For Pinot Noir lovers (and terroir enthusiasts)
The PN collection explores the grape variety cru by cru, offering a rare, plot-by-plot reading in Champagne. Each edition highlights a dominant terroir. Tasted as a series, they make the differences between Aÿ, Tauxières and Verzenay clearly apparent.
For the cellar and long ageing
The Récemment Dégorgé (RD) and La Côte aux Enfants cuvées form the rarest part of the range, prized for their ageing potential and limited availability. Truly precious bottles!
For gifting
Every Bollinger cuvée makes a beautiful gift that will delight any wine lover. Generally speaking, Special Cuvée is a safe choice when it comes to gifting a champagne. Available in a wide range of formats, from single bottles to very large formats, Special Cuvée is also often at the heart of limited editions, particularly for the end-of-year festivities.
The Bollinger cuvées explained
Special Cuvée
The house's non-vintage Brut and core cuvée. Its ageing on lees far exceeds the appellation's minimum requirements, and its reserve wines are kept in magnums. These two choices combine to give an unusual depth for a non-vintage wine and a consistency that few entry-level Bruts achieve.
Brut Rosé
Brut Rosé is a blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier, enhanced with the house's still red wine. It has a colour with golden hues, notes of redcurrant and wild strawberry, extended by the house's characteristic spicy touch. This wine-driven, gastronomic rosé, rather than a light style, is representative of Bollinger's expertise in rosé champagnes, the pinnacle of which is represented by La Grande Année Rosé.
La Grande Année
Created by Lily Bollinger, this cuvée expresses exceptional vintages. Fully vinified in old oak barrels, La Grande Année spends eight years on lees, which fosters an autolytic aromatic profile that gives the wine its patina, its notes of dried fruit and its recognisable texture. Still riddled and disgorged by hand today, Bollinger's La Grande Année is one of the great monuments of Champagne and also exists in a rosé version.
PN, the Blancs de Noirs
Pinot Noir is Bollinger's signature grape variety! The PN cuvées are Blancs de Noirs that embody the ambition to explore every facet of it. Each edition starts with a blank page. The house selects the most representative cru of the year through blind tasting, then blends it with other crus and other vintages to enhance it, always ensuring the main cru remains in the majority. No edition ever replicates the previous one.
How to read a PN cuvée's name: It is a non-vintage Brut. The letters denote the dominant cru: AYC for Aÿ, TX for Tauxières, VZ for Verzenay. The number indicates the base year of the blend, not a vintage.
Bollinger B, the limited editions
The By Bollinger series follows a logic opposite to that of La Grande Année. Where the latter answers to a strict set of criteria, the B cuvées are free from any terroir constraints. They have only been produced on rare occasions, making them the most confidential bottles in the range. A Grande Année and a B cuvée never coexist in the same vintage.
Example with B16: The 2016 vintage did not bring together fruit from Aÿ and Verzenay in the required proportions, and only around ten crus reached the expected quality level. Rather than produce a diminished Grande Année, the house tightened the blend and explored more unusual terroirs: 73% Pinot Noir and 27% Chardonnay from the latest-ripening sectors of the Montagne de Reims, mainly Verzy, Verzenay, Tauxières and a touch of Bouzy, with Chardonnay sourced from Trépail rather than the Côte des Blancs. Remarkably, the blend contains no fruit from Aÿ at all, something that would be unthinkable for La Grande Année.
RD for Récemment Dégorgé
A Grande Année from the same vintage, left on lees for considerably longer before a late disgorgement. After fourteen or fifteen years, the dosage is determined through blind tasting, generally below 5g/l, with the acquired complexity providing the balance. The aromatic evolution shifts from an autolytic profile to a more oxidative one. The house does not systematically release every vintage as an RD: only those it believes will benefit from additional ageing are selected.
La Côte aux Enfants
La Côte aux Enfants is a historic plot owned and farmed by the House in Aÿ. It produces a Blanc de Noirs classified as Grand Cru and, in certain years only, one of the rare still red wines of Champagne, under the Coteaux Champenois appellation.
What defines the style of Bollinger champagnes
Pinot Noir as the signature grape variety
Since its founding, the house has built its identity around Pinot Noir. It dominates almost all of the blends and gives the wines their body, wine-like structure and length on the palate.
Oak vinification, never in new barrels
While most houses have switched to stainless steel, which is easier to manage from a bacteriological and thermal standpoint, Bollinger has kept oak since 1829. Only barrels that have already been used for several years are employed, as new oak would mask the delicate aromas of these champagnes. The time spent in barrel lasts six to eight months, and it is this very slow micro-oxygenation that gives rise to the house's characteristic creamy effervescence.
Reserve wines aged in magnum
A significant proportion of the reserve wines age in magnum, under oak, for between seven and fifteen years. When blended into a young cuvée, they bring an immediate patina, notes of dried and candied fruit, and a complexity the wine would not have achieved on its own. This practice is rare in Champagne, given the volume of stock it ties up.
The pursuit of fruit ripeness
Maison Bollinger assesses fruit ripeness on a scale ranging from granny smith apple to overripe apple, and aims for the upper end of that spectrum without ever reaching it: white fruits, stone fruits, occasionally hints of tropical fruit. Neither greenness nor overripeness.
Dosage decided through blind tasting
Blends and dosages are determined through blind tasting, seeking the best organoleptic balance for each cuvée.
Hand riddling and hand disgorgement
A team of riddlers and disgorgers works the bottles by hand, a practice that has become rare among the great houses. It allows each wine to be smelled just before recorking and ensures each bottle is checked individually for any flaws.
Cellar ageing two and a half times the minimum requirement
The wines rest in the cellar well beyond what the appellation requires. It is this extended ageing that accounts for the texture, the aromatic patina and the ageing potential of the cuvées.
The crus of the Bollinger vineyard
The house farms six historic crus, five planted with Pinot Noir and one with Chardonnay. The Chardonnay comes from Cuis, at the northernmost tip of the Côte des Blancs. The Pinot Noir plots are spread around the Montagne de Reims: Verzenay to the north, then Louvois, Avenay, Tauxières and Aÿ.
Verzenay and Bollinger's salinity
Verzenay holds a special place. The house owns around thirty hectares there, exclusively classified Grand Cru, which bring drinkability and, above all, the salinity considered to be Bollinger's true signature. This salinity runs through every cuvée and forms the common thread of the house style.
Aÿ, the cradle of the house
Aÿ has been home to the house since 1829, as well as to the La Côte aux Enfants plot. This cru is among the required conditions for a vintage to be released as La Grande Année.
Maison Bollinger
A family house since 1829
Founded in Aÿ, Bollinger has never been sold and still belongs to its founding family, a case that has become exceedingly rare among the great Champagne houses. This continuity explains the consistency of its style and the house's ability to think in the long term, particularly with regard to its cellar ageing periods and reserve stocks.
Lily Bollinger and the legacy of La Grande Année
At the helm of the house from 1941 to 1971, Lily Bollinger built its international reputation and created the La Grande Année cuvée, which remains the house's benchmark vintage expression.
Frequently asked questions about Bollinger champagnes
Which format of Bollinger champagne should you choose?
The format has a direct impact on ageing. The larger the volume, the lower the ratio between the wine and the oxygen present in the neck, resulting in a slower and more even evolution.
The magnum is the benchmark format for ageing, something Bollinger's use of reserve wines confirms in its own way. Larger formats, from Jeroboam to Nebuchadnezzar, are better suited to sharing and the table than to the cellar.
Under what conditions does Bollinger produce a Grande Année?
The blend must include fruit from Aÿ and fruit from Verzenay, and bring together at least fifteen crus. If these conditions are not met, the house does not produce a Grande Année that year, which explains the missing vintages in the series.
What is the difference between a B cuvée and a Grande Année?
La Grande Année adheres to a strict set of criteria. The B cuvées are free from these constraints and emerge in atypical years when the house identifies real potential without the criteria for a Grande Année being fully met. The two never coexist in the same vintage.
What do the letters and numbers on the PN cuvées mean?
The letters denote the dominant cru in the blend: AYC for Aÿ, TX for Tauxières, VZ for Verzenay. The number indicates the base year, not a vintage, as PN is a non-vintage Brut.
What is the difference between La Grande Année and the RD?
The RD is a Grande Année from the same vintage, left on lees for considerably longer before a late disgorgement. The wine shifts from an autolytic profile to a more oxidative one, while retaining remarkable freshness for its age.
Why does Bollinger never use new oak barrels?
New oak would mask the delicate, elegant aromas of these champagnes. Only barrels that have already been used for several years are employed, for a period of six to eight months.
Which Bollinger champagne ages best?
The Récemment Dégorgé (RD) wines and the La Grande Année vintages are the cuvées best suited to ageing, thanks to their oak vinification and their very long time on lees. The magnum format further enhances this ageing potential.
Does Bollinger produce a red wine?
Yes, La Côte aux Enfants, a Coteaux Champenois wine made from the eponymous plot in Aÿ, is produced only in favourable years.
