ARTICLES
Bolly, Happy Anniversary!
Spitbucket | 8 April 2011
General
"The wonderful champagne House of Bollinger..."
It is a banner year when a winery can celebrate not one, not two, but three anniversaries.
2011 sees Bollinger, a Champagne producer whose fame and reputation (it is, after all, the champagne of everyone from AbFab's Patsy and Edina to the most famous spy of all, James Bond) far exceed its small production, achieve 100 years of Special Cuvee, which was named and registered for their UK agents, Mentzendorff (they are still with the same agents ? a great achievement in itself and one that can be traced back to 1858), replacing the much more mundane tag of non-vintage. Bollinger, or Bolly as it is more commonly known, was drunk and enjoyed well before that ? indeed, it was granted a Royal Warrant in 1884, and records extend back into the mid 1850's. Early fame came during a hunt in the 1870's when King Edward VII called for his 'boy' to bring him a bottle of Bollinger ? Bolly quickly becoming a society favourite with the nickname, 'Boy'.
The other two anniversaries celebrate fifty years. It was 1961 when Madame Bollinger uttered what must surely be the most famous quote in the wine world "I drink it when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and I drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it, unless I'm thirsty." There is a school of thought that this was far from some brilliant, champagne-inspired poetry but rather a somewhat sarcastic response to a cadet reporter from the Daily Mail when she asked the formidable woman the rather silly question when did she drink the stuff?
It is, perhaps more significantly, the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the first RD ( recently disgorged), from the 1952 vintage. It was the creation of Madame Bollinger (one story that once did the rounds was that when other houses were moving to include a prestige/flagship/icon wine in their range, the good Madame told her team that as they made their Special Cuvee and vintage, Grand Annee, to the highest possible standards, how could they include something supposedly better in their range. Hence, she came up with the concept of leaving their vintage wine on lees for an extended period, providing for a different character). It spends at least 8 years on lees, and sometimes considerably longer. The only difference in winemaking is that after disgorging, the wine receives a slightly lower dosage.
Bolly's current range is providing some of the finest drinking over their long and illustrious career. And doing it from vintages that the purists may not consider all-time greats. Notes for the wines are in the 'Wine Notes' section.
A vintage Rose joined the ranks in 1976 (the vintage release available at the moment is the 1999), but it is only recently that a non-vintage rose made its appearance (and to be honest, I usually prefer it to its allegedly more illustrious sibling). The current Grand Annee is the 2000, for me a superior vintage to its predecessor, 1999 (as was 1998). There will be no 2001, but Bolly fans are already salivating at the thought of what the 2002, the best vintage since 1996, should bring. The RD is from the completely unheralded 1997 vintage ? which gives you an idea of how long these wines can be left on lees. One always wondered what chance that year had, following on from the stunning 1995 and stupendous 1996 ? how many houses simply ducked it to avoid vintage overkill without considering its quality?
Bollinger also make two other wines ? a non sparkling red called La Cote aux Enfants (current vintage being the fine 2002) and the amazing but extremely rare and expensive Vieilles Vignes Franaises (I have no idea of the current vintage as, sadly, it was not part of our tasting, and the point is probably moot anyway, as it is horrendously expensive, even if you could find it ? I remember a visit to Bollinger in Ay a few years ago where I spied six barrels, plus another tiny barrel as it is so valuable, in a corner. These were for VVF and as it is only released three or four times a decade, as our American friends say, do the maths. It is not much to share amongst the champagne lovers of the world).
VVF comes from two tiny pinot noir vineyards that have not been infected by phylloxera (so not technically pre-phylloxera), and hence are planted on their own rootstocks. It was three but the inexorable march of that vile little aphid added another casualty to the thousands that have fallen before it, in 2007. They are planted en foule, meaning all jumbled in together. The first vintage was 1969. The story is that the idea came from English wine writer, Cyril Ray, who convinced Madame Bollinger to keep the fruit from those vineyards separate.
And finally, to return to the birthday 'boy', RD, the tasting saw a magnum of the 1988 opened. There is debate as to whether RD should be drunk pretty much on release or whether it can age further on cork, as this 1988 had been disgorged in 2000. This wine, admittedly from a great vintage, provided incontrovertible proof that further age is not only possible but can add an extra dimension to the wine.
It was a truly stunning Bolly and the perfect wine with which to celebrate all three birthdays
KBG
2011 sees Bollinger, a Champagne producer whose fame and reputation (it is, after all, the champagne of everyone from AbFab's Patsy and Edina to the most famous spy of all, James Bond) far exceed its small production, achieve 100 years of Special Cuvee, which was named and registered for their UK agents, Mentzendorff (they are still with the same agents ? a great achievement in itself and one that can be traced back to 1858), replacing the much more mundane tag of non-vintage. Bollinger, or Bolly as it is more commonly known, was drunk and enjoyed well before that ? indeed, it was granted a Royal Warrant in 1884, and records extend back into the mid 1850's. Early fame came during a hunt in the 1870's when King Edward VII called for his 'boy' to bring him a bottle of Bollinger ? Bolly quickly becoming a society favourite with the nickname, 'Boy'.
The other two anniversaries celebrate fifty years. It was 1961 when Madame Bollinger uttered what must surely be the most famous quote in the wine world "I drink it when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and I drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it, unless I'm thirsty." There is a school of thought that this was far from some brilliant, champagne-inspired poetry but rather a somewhat sarcastic response to a cadet reporter from the Daily Mail when she asked the formidable woman the rather silly question when did she drink the stuff?
It is, perhaps more significantly, the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the first RD ( recently disgorged), from the 1952 vintage. It was the creation of Madame Bollinger (one story that once did the rounds was that when other houses were moving to include a prestige/flagship/icon wine in their range, the good Madame told her team that as they made their Special Cuvee and vintage, Grand Annee, to the highest possible standards, how could they include something supposedly better in their range. Hence, she came up with the concept of leaving their vintage wine on lees for an extended period, providing for a different character). It spends at least 8 years on lees, and sometimes considerably longer. The only difference in winemaking is that after disgorging, the wine receives a slightly lower dosage.
Bolly's current range is providing some of the finest drinking over their long and illustrious career. And doing it from vintages that the purists may not consider all-time greats. Notes for the wines are in the 'Wine Notes' section.
A vintage Rose joined the ranks in 1976 (the vintage release available at the moment is the 1999), but it is only recently that a non-vintage rose made its appearance (and to be honest, I usually prefer it to its allegedly more illustrious sibling). The current Grand Annee is the 2000, for me a superior vintage to its predecessor, 1999 (as was 1998). There will be no 2001, but Bolly fans are already salivating at the thought of what the 2002, the best vintage since 1996, should bring. The RD is from the completely unheralded 1997 vintage ? which gives you an idea of how long these wines can be left on lees. One always wondered what chance that year had, following on from the stunning 1995 and stupendous 1996 ? how many houses simply ducked it to avoid vintage overkill without considering its quality?
Bollinger also make two other wines ? a non sparkling red called La Cote aux Enfants (current vintage being the fine 2002) and the amazing but extremely rare and expensive Vieilles Vignes Franaises (I have no idea of the current vintage as, sadly, it was not part of our tasting, and the point is probably moot anyway, as it is horrendously expensive, even if you could find it ? I remember a visit to Bollinger in Ay a few years ago where I spied six barrels, plus another tiny barrel as it is so valuable, in a corner. These were for VVF and as it is only released three or four times a decade, as our American friends say, do the maths. It is not much to share amongst the champagne lovers of the world).
VVF comes from two tiny pinot noir vineyards that have not been infected by phylloxera (so not technically pre-phylloxera), and hence are planted on their own rootstocks. It was three but the inexorable march of that vile little aphid added another casualty to the thousands that have fallen before it, in 2007. They are planted en foule, meaning all jumbled in together. The first vintage was 1969. The story is that the idea came from English wine writer, Cyril Ray, who convinced Madame Bollinger to keep the fruit from those vineyards separate.
And finally, to return to the birthday 'boy', RD, the tasting saw a magnum of the 1988 opened. There is debate as to whether RD should be drunk pretty much on release or whether it can age further on cork, as this 1988 had been disgorged in 2000. This wine, admittedly from a great vintage, provided incontrovertible proof that further age is not only possible but can add an extra dimension to the wine.
It was a truly stunning Bolly and the perfect wine with which to celebrate all three birthdays
KBG
© 2013 Spitbucket
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