Editors notes
La Grande Année is the embodiment of the carefully preserved traditional expertise of the Bollinger Champagne House. The wine is therefore exclusively vinified in small aged oak barrels. Champagne Bollinger has never abandoned this traditional craft method, which helps develop aromas of great finesse. After a prolonged ageing on its lees, even today every bottle of La Grande Année is riddled and disgorged by hand.
Blend of the 2008 vintage: 71% Pinot Noir, 29% Chardonnay. 18 crus: mainly Aÿ and Verzenay for the Pinot Noir, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Cramant for the Chardonnay. Exclusive use of the cuvée. Fermented entirely in aged oak barrels. At Bollinger, only very high quality harvests become a vintage: in 2008, the remarkable maturity of the grapes combined with a phenomenal acidity have produced a wine of infinite depth and allowed an exceptional vintage to be created.
Maturation: Sealed with a natural cork and cellar aged for more than twice the time required by the Appellation.
Dosage: Moderate, 8 grams per litre.
Details
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Wine Type
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Variety
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Brand
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Cellaring
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Tasting Profile
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Light (Light)Full (Full)
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Sweet (Sweet)Dry (Dry)
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Low Acidity (Low Acidity)High Acidity (High Acidity)
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Aroma
- Creamy
- Lemon
- Mineral
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Palate
- Apple
- Cream
- Lemon
Food Pairings
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Cheese -
Fish
Critic Scores & reviews
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Wine Enthusiast
95"This is the producer's equivalent of a Vintage Champagne. Fermented and aged in wood and then kept for nine years before release, this wine comes from an exceptional vintage that manages to combine ripe fruit and acidity, meaning the wine can age extraordinarily well. Although the wine is just ready, it will be much better from 2022 and for many years after."
Other vintages
Love this wine? Here's a list of other vintages we have in stock if you'd like to try them as well.
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- Variety Chardonnay / Pinot Noir
- Vintage 2014
- Brand Bollinger
- Cellaring 15 Plus Years
- Wine Type Sparkling
- Alcohol Percentage 12.0% Alcohol
Bollinger 'Grande Annee' Champagne 2014-
Antonio Galloni98 points
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Jeb Dunnuck97 points
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The Wine Advoca95 points
$279.99 -
- Variety Chardonnay / Pinot Noir
- Vintage 2002
- Brand Bollinger
- Cellaring 15 Plus Years
- Wine Type Sparkling
BOLLINGER 'GRAND ANNEE' 2002 CHAMPAGNE-
Wine Spectator94 points
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The Wine Advoca94 points
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International W94 points
$200.00
Current auction
All current auctions for this wine & any different vintages.
Locations
France
Wine is being produced throughout France and has been done for over 2,500 years with certain Châteaux dating their history back to Roman times, around 6th Century BC. Ranking second in the world in per-capita consumption and first in total production quantity. More so than the overall quantity of wine is the quantity of truly great wines coming out of France makes the nation the envy of wine-making nations worldwide.
Two concepts pivotal to the higher end French wines, in particular, are the idea of 'terroir' and the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) system. Terroir refers to the way the geography, geology and climate find their way into the glass, telling a story of the origin of the wine. The AOC was set up in 1935 and has the primary goal of protecting the authenticity of the wines and the livelihoods of the producers. Appellation rules strictly define which varieties of grapes and winemaking practices are approved for classification in each of France's several hundred geographically defined appellations, which can cover entire regions, individual villages or in some cases, like in Burgundy even specific vineyards.
Classic wine regions in France include Champagne (home of Champagne), Burgundy (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay), Bordeaux (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot), Alsace (Aromatic varietals), Loire Valley (Chenin Blanc, Crémant) and the Rhône Valley (Syrah, Grenache Mourvedre)
The Bordeaux classification of 1855 is still in use, as is the Sauternes and Barsac Classification of the same year. Wines from certain regions can be bought En Primeur, which is when the wine is sold prior to it being bottled.
Champagne
Champagne is a wine region to the north-east of Paris where wine has been grown since the Romans first planted in the 5th century and the region is most well known for the sparkling wine that goes by the regions name.
Champagne is made from 3 grapes. The two red grapes Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier and the white grape Chardonnay. All three are commonly blended though a ‘blanc de blanc’ meaning ‘white from white’ indicates that only Chardonnay was used. Conversely a ‘blanc de noir’ or ‘white from black’ indicates that the two red grapes were used.
A common misconception is that Champagne was invented by Dom Pérignon. Although this is not the case, he made considerable contributions to the quality and production methods used in the region. The very first bottles of Champagne were created by accident, and coined ‘the devil’s wine’ for all the popping corks. Sparkling wine in Australia was referred to as Champagne but this practise has long been disallowed.
Methode Champenoise is the traditional method by which Champagne is produced and if you see Millisime on a bottle, it represents the fact that the wine comes from a particular vintage rather than being blended, which is the more common practice.
Icons such as Dom Pérignon and Kristal are world reknowned, but we find as much pleasure in the smaller Champagne houses such as Gosset and Jacquinot. Magnums are perfect for the festive occasions and half bottles are also available.
About the brand Bollinger
The Bollinger champagne House has created prestigious champagnes with character, distinguished by their elegance and complexity, since 1829. These outstanding wines are the result of rigorous attention to detail, for Bollinger accepts nothing less than excellence. Each and every detail represents a quest for a certain form of perfection. This uncompromisingly independent spirit, dedicated to unostentatious achievement, exemplifies the inimitable elegance for which the Champagne region is renowned and which has so impressed the Court of England that the House has been awarded the Royal Warrant since 1884.
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