2015 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Annee 750Ml Bottle

“…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.” 95+ points! - William Kelley, The Wine Advocate

Here are a few facts that are illuminating and partially explain the greatness and special character of Bollinger. - Bollinger owns a staggering 180ha of vines; all in the Marne department, I.E. no vineyards in the south (e.g. Cote de Bar or Cote de Sezanne), and of this, 150 ha are in Grand Cru communes! - Many batches are barrel fermented - 100% for the Grande Année; so Dennis is in charge of 4200 barrels (average age 20y) that are fermentation and ageing vessels. This is how each micro-batch and each plot can be kept separate. - There are reserve wines kept in 800,000 magnums! - In 2015, a very warm year, the level of “fresher” chardonnay was increased to 40% from 30%; and the amount of Mountain de Rheims was also increased (over Vallee de la Marne) because these wines are “fresher and sharper” according to Denis. To this end only 11 communes out of a possible 20 were used. - Denis says that “2015 is like a firework, there is an exotic element of tropical mango with the red fruits and roast pear. It has great vinosity with a lovely slight orange-peel bitterness. It’s a hugely generous wine.”