The unprecedented double release kicks off Champagne Bollinger’s programme of preparations for its bicentenary in 2029 with fanfare.
On Wednesday, at its historic cellars in the village of Aÿ, Champagne Bollinger unveiled two landmark wines: the 2013 vintage of its famed and rare Vieilles Vignes Françaises Champagne and, for the first time ever, the 2012 vintage Champagne from its historic Côte aux Enfants vineyard, hitherto only released as still red wine. Both wines are from hallowed sites, both are made from Pinot Noir, one is legendary, the other a complete first.
The double release rings in the house’s seven-year countdown to its bicentenary in 2029 – the same time it takes to age Bollinger’s famous Grande Année vintage Champagnes. This countdown is part of “ambitious plans” to renovate Bolllinger’s historic sites, all comprised in a “unique oenotourism site” including a hotel, shop, restaurant and a “cathedralesque cellar” for the famous barrels with a view of the vines where guests can book “multi-day experiences.” Beyond this construction, Bollinger also unveiled a charter of eight environmental and social commitments.
“Our philosophy for the coming years is to focus more and more on Pinot Noir,” Charles-Armand de Belenet, Bollinger’s managing director said. The limited editions of 100% Pinot Noir cuvées highlighting both villages in vintages that started in 2020 with the release of VZ PN 15, followed by VZ PN 16 in 2021 and TX PN 17 in 2022, was already a foretaste of this renewed focus. A new permanent addition to Bollinger’s portfolio in the form of a Champagne from the Côte aux Enfants vineyard is a real statement.
Sourced from two tiny, enclosed parcels of ungrafted Pinot Noir vines in Aÿ, Vieilles Vignes Françaises is both an iconic and a rare wine – it is Bollinger’s nod to the past with these precious vines grown and propagated to this day by so-called layering or provignage. The Clos St Jacques parcel is adjacent to the house, the Chaudes Terres parcel is also close by, both are enclosed by walls. 1969 was the first vintage of Vieilles Vignes Françaises when Madame Lily Bollinger had been persuaded to make a separate wine from these unique old parcels. There used to be a third parcel from Bouzy that used to make it into the wine, but since that was not an enclosed vineyard, its ungrafted roots were ravaged by phylloxera, so as of 2005, the wine has been made from the two historic parcels in Aÿ. Wanting to preserve this patrimony was part of the motivation to start making a sparkling wine from Côte aux Enfants: “One day VVF will fall victim to phylloxera, so we wanted to preserve the Pinot Noir of Aÿ,” Bunner said.
The cool 2013 vintage sits well with the wine: being enclosed by walls, the vineyards get very warm, yet the vintage did not start until 27 September in 2013 in these two parcels. “In this cool year we have the maturity of VVF , linked to the special place, with the concentration of a reduced yield,” Bunner said about the expression of the wine. It was aged under natural cork and disgorged in March 2022 with 6g/l of dosage. Just 2,477 bottles of Vieilles Vignes Françaises were made.
The Côte aux Enfants vineyard is central to the house’s DNA. It is a steep, chalky hillside in the grand cru village of Aÿ, assembled by Jacques Bollinger, Lily Bollinger’s husband, from 1926 to 1934, by purchases from 50 separate owners to turn it into a monopole. It is a site predestined for Pinot Noir. Its grapes are made into a still red wine: one of the few famous red still wines from Champagne – as rare as it is expensive. For decades, these red wines were only offered to family, friends and guests – they were not commercialised until the late 1980s. Their importance, however, goes much further: Côte aux Enfants Pinot Noir is the red wine used to colour Bollinger’s La Grande Année Rosé – lending not only a pink hue but also structure, power, fruit and elegance.
The monopole of just 4 hectares is divided into several parcels – its Côte Sud, Bas de Côte and Chiennart parcels, facing south, are the source of the red wines. The grapes from its Côte Nord and Cochemont parcels, however, facing northwest, were always vinified as white base wines and used to make their way into La Grande Année. “We realised this specific part, the north-westerly part, has a very specific minerality,” Bollinger’s cellar master Denis Bunner said. “We realised we have something very rare and particular, so we decided to create this [sparkling] wine for the first time in 2012.” Just like Vieilles Vignes Françaises, it will not be made every year; the turbulent but warm vintage of 2012 is a wonderful debut: it is a most unusual wine aromatically and texturally and a stellar addition to Champagne’s roster of single-vineyard wines. It was disgorged in January 2022 with a dosage of 8g/l.
On Wednesday, at its historic cellars in the village of Aÿ, Champagne Bollinger unveiled two landmark wines: the 2013 vintage of its famed and rare Vieilles Vignes Françaises Champagne and, for the first time ever, the 2012 vintage Champagne from its historic Côte aux Enfants vineyard, hitherto only released as still red wine. Both wines are from hallowed sites, both are made from Pinot Noir, one is legendary, the other a complete first.
The double release rings in the house’s seven-year countdown to its bicentenary in 2029 – the same time it takes to age Bollinger’s famous Grande Année vintage Champagnes. This countdown is part of “ambitious plans” to renovate Bolllinger’s historic sites, all comprised in a “unique oenotourism site” including a hotel, shop, restaurant and a “cathedralesque cellar” for the famous barrels with a view of the vines where guests can book “multi-day experiences.” Beyond this construction, Bollinger also unveiled a charter of eight environmental and social commitments.
“Our philosophy for the coming years is to focus more and more on Pinot Noir,” Charles-Armand de Belenet, Bollinger’s managing director said. The limited editions of 100% Pinot Noir cuvées highlighting both villages in vintages that started in 2020 with the release of VZ PN 15, followed by VZ PN 16 in 2021 and TX PN 17 in 2022, was already a foretaste of this renewed focus. A new permanent addition to Bollinger’s portfolio in the form of a Champagne from the Côte aux Enfants vineyard is a real statement.
Sourced from two tiny, enclosed parcels of ungrafted Pinot Noir vines in Aÿ, Vieilles Vignes Françaises is both an iconic and a rare wine – it is Bollinger’s nod to the past with these precious vines grown and propagated to this day by so-called layering or provignage. The Clos St Jacques parcel is adjacent to the house, the Chaudes Terres parcel is also close by, both are enclosed by walls. 1969 was the first vintage of Vieilles Vignes Françaisesm when Madame Lily Bollinger had been persuaded to make a separate wine from these unique old parcels. There used to be a third parcel from Bouzy that used to make it into the wine, but since that was not an enclosed vineyard, it ungrafted roots were ravaged by phylloxera, so as of 2005, the wine was made from the two historic parcels in Aÿ. Wanting to preserve this patrimony was part of the motivation to start making a sparkling wine from Côte aux Enfants: “One day VVF will fall victim to phylloxera, so we wanted to preserve the Pinot Noir of Aÿ,” Bunner said.
The cool 2013 vintage sits well with the wine: being enclosed by walls, the vineyards get very warm, yet the ivntae did not start until 27 September in 2013 in these two parcels. “In this cool year we have the maturity of VVF , linked to the special place, with the concentration of a reduced yield,” Bunner said about the expression of the wine. It was aged under natural cork and disgorged in <arch 2022 with 6g/l of dosage. Just 2,477 bottles of Vieilles Vignes Françaises were made.
The Côte aux Enfants vineyard is central to the house’s DNA. It is a steep, chalky hillside in the grand cru village of Aÿ, assembled by Jacques Bollinger, Lily Bollinger’s husband, from 1926 to 1934, by purchases from 50 separate owners to turn it into a monopole. It is a site predestined for Pinot Noir. Its grapes are made into a still red wine: one of the few famous red still wines from Champagne – as rare as it is expensive. For decades, these red wines were only offered to family, friends and guests – they were not commercialised until the late 1980s. Their importance, however, goes much further: Côte aux Enfants Pinot Noir is the red wine used to colour Bollinger’s La Grande Année Rosé – lending not only a pink hue but also structure, power, fruit and elegance.
The monopole of just 4 hectares is divided into several parcels – its Côte Sud, Bas de Côte and Chiennart parcels, facing south, are the source of the red wines. The grapes from its Côte Nord and Cochemont parcels, however, facing northwest, were always vinified as white base wines and used to make their way into La Grande Année. “We realised this specific part, the north-westerly part, has a very specific minerality,” Bollinger’s cellar master Denis Bunner said. “We realised we have something very rare and particular, so we decided to create this [sparkling] wine for the first time in 2012.” Just like Vieilles Vignes Françaises, it will not be made every year; the turbulent but warm vintage of 2012 is a wonderful debut: it is a most unusual wine aromatically and texturally and a stellar addition to Champagne’s roster of single-vineyard wines. It was disgorged in January 2022 with a dosage of 8g/l.
