2004 Champagne Bollinger, La Grande Année, Brut

2004 Champagne Bollinger, La Grande Année, Brut

Product: 20048002174
Prices start from £645.00 per case Buying options
2004 Champagne Bollinger, La Grande Année, Brut

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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6 x 75cl bottle
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Description

La Grande Année is the ultimate expression of the Bollinger house style; rich and full - one of the world’s great Champagnes. Still family owned, this is a champagne house of world renown and one of my favourites! In exceptional years (perhaps 4 times a decade) they produce La Grande Annee, their Prestige Cuvee. 75% of the fruit is from Grand Cru sites, the remaining 25% from the finest Premier Cru, first fermentation is in 100% old oak barrels, aged for 5 years on its lees….no expense is spared!

These are classic and complex Pinot Noir dominated Champagnes, powerful yet refined with the ability to age beautifully. 2004 was a vintage which combined quality and quantity. Conditions were similar to those of 1998, which is now perceived as an excellent year. The 2004 releases are fine successors to the outstanding 2002 wines, continuing the quality of this extraordinary Cuvee.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer

Surprisingly forward aromas of flowers, sherbet, toast and autolysis compete for attention on the delightful bouquet. There’s huge power on the dense, lush palate with notes of red apples, stone fruit and ripe figs which are balanced by some refreshingly crisp acidity, before the long, well-defined lingering mineral finish, rounds off this fantastic offering from Bollinger. Very tempting to drink now, but this will improve for another year or two and drink well through 2020 and beyond.
Chris Pollington, Fine Wine

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate94/100
The 2004 Grande Anne Brut was disgorged in November 2013 and offers a clear, very refined, and complex though still closed bouquet with fruity aromas of fresh and stewed apples, yellow grapefruit, kaki, walnuts, tobacco, herbal tea, nougat and spicy flavors; everything is discreet here, subtle, perfectly melted together and smoky, very smoky. On the palate, this Pinot Noir/Chardonnay blend wine is highly complex and elegant, firmly structured and quite long. This is an excellent Champagne.
Stephan Reinhardt - 30/10/2015 Read more
Jancis Robinson MW17+/20
No much on the nose yet. Savoury nose. Really quite introvert, crystalline with masses of acidity. Very youthful indeed.
Jancis Robinson MW, jancisrobinson.com, 4 Dec 2012 Read more
Other
Bollinger is 007’s Champagne of choice and their two latest vintage releases, this and the rosé version, are nothing short of sensational. You can have more in common with James Bond than you think!
Mathew Jukes - Top Ten Festive Fizzes - 08-Dec-2012 Read more
Will Lyons
La Grande Annee is only produced in years when the conditions enable the grapes to reach a certain level of maturity. Very much in the house style with big, powerful toasty notes, it also has a tautness and fresh acidity.
Berry Bros. & Rudd wines featured in The Wall Street Journal by Will Lyons

Will Lyons writes a weekly column for The Wall Street Journal. His humorous, informed, down-to-earth writing has been recognized in both the Glenfiddich and Roederer wine writing Awards. He began his career in London, as a wine merchant in St. James’s where he developed a love for the classic wines of Europe. He has written for a variety of publications including The Scotsman, Reader’s Digest, The Spectator and Decanter. Read more

About this WINE

Bollinger

Bollinger

The Champagne House of Bollinger was established in 1829 by Jacques Bollinger and Paul Renaudin. Over the years the vineyard holdings have been steadily increased with the largest expansion taking place under the stewardship of the legendary Mme Lily Bollinger. She ran the company between 1941 and 1977 and today it is managed by her great-nephew, Ghislain de Montgolfier.

Bollinger has a reputation for producing muscular champagnes with body, depth and power, and is today considered one of the "Great" Champagne houses.

70% of the grapes come from the firm's own vineyards. 80% of the harvest is barrel-fermented with the wines being kept on their yeast lees for an extended period of time (in the case of the RD, around 10 years).

Bollinger produces classic, complex, Pinot-Noir dominated champagnes with the ability to age gracefully for many years.

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Brut Champagne

Brut Champagne

Brut denotes a dry style of Champagne (less than 15 grams per litre). Most Champagne is non-vintage, produced from a blend from different years. The non-vintage blend is always based predominately on wines made from the current harvest, enriched with aged wines (their proportion and age varies by brand) from earlier harvests, which impart an additional level of complexity to the end wine. Champagnes from a single vintage are labelled with the year reference and with the description Millésimé.

Non-vintage Champagnes can improve with short-term ageing (typically two to three years), while vintages can develop over much longer periods (five to 30 years). The most exquisite and often top-priced expression of a house’s style is referred to as Prestige Cuvée. Famous examples include Louis Roederer's Cristal, Moët & Chandon's Dom Pérignon, and Pol Roger's Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill.

Recommended Producers : Krug, Billecart Salmon, Pol Roger, Bollinger, Salon, Gosset, Pierre Péters, Ruinart


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Champagne blend

Champagne blend

Which grapes are included in the blend, and their proportion, is one of the key factors determining the style of most Champagnes. Three grapes are used - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.

26% of vineyards in Champagne are planted with Chardonnay and it performs best on the Côtes des Blancs and on the chalk slopes south of Epernay. It is relatively simple to grow, although it buds early and thus is susceptible to spring frosts. It produces lighter, fresher wines than those from Burgundy and gives finesse, fruit and elegance to the final blend. It is the sole grape in Blancs de Blancs, which are some of the richest long-lived Champagnes produced.

Pinot Noir accounts for nearly 40% of the plantings in Champagne and lies at the heart of most blends - it gives Champagne its body, structure, strength and grip. It is planted across Champagne and particularly so in the southern Aube district.

The final component is Pinot Meunier and this constitutes nearly 35% of the plantings. Its durability and resistance to spring frosts make the Marne Valley, a notorious frost pocket, its natural home. It ripens well in poor years and produces a soft, fruity style of wine that is ideal for blending with the more assertive flavours of Pinot Noir. Producers allege that Pinot Meunier lacks ageing potential, but this does not deter Krug from including around 15% of it in their final blends.


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