2002 Bollinger Champagne Grande Année Rosé - France, Champagne (10/22/2016)
Third time with this wine in the last year or so, and it is consistently excellent. Fresh red fruit flavors, fantastic depth and outstanding length make for a fabulous drinking experience. I could drink this every day.
Posted from CellarTracker
David, how does this compare to other top vintage rose releases [assuming you may have had some] from Bollie?
I’ve been gun shy with this producer…I’ve read so many comments about early oxidation. Yet I find myself interested in understanding the style and producer better based on my love of Champagne. Can someone please help fill me in? Are these wines that are best consumed in their youth (5-10 years)? There seem to be a lot of comments about these seeming farther along in their maturation curve than they should be.
Kirk, Ive been drinking Bollie champagnes for over 30 years and have not had issues like you have heard. One of the best ever was a 1990 RD a few years ago that rocked on and was one of the best of the 1990s I have had and that is saying something bc that was a great vintage and there were many stars.
Their house style is different from most. The best crus are vilified in wood. They as does Krug, have extended barrel aging so there is a bit more oak, but Ive never found it to be cloying or disruptive to the fine bubbly. They have a stock of 3,500 small, aged casks and over 700,000 reserve magnums which allows them to offer consistency of high quality champagnes over time; therefore, the wines are released with a bit of age on them which may explain why some get more oxidative notes, but Ive really not had an oxidised, undrinkable Bollie although that can happen with any house once it has left their cellars.
Their current Special Cuvee is not only drinking exceptionally well now, but is a great QPR IMHO and will age with grace.
Blake,
The only other vintage of the Rosé GA I had ever had was the '95, so not much for comparison. But I really love this wine, and wish I had sprung for more than the 6 bottles I bought on release.
As for early oxidation of Bollinger, I have only ever experienced that with the '96 GA, but I have had issues with numerous other producers in '96, so to me it’s not a Billy problem, but a vintage problem.
I happened to have this on Saturday night, too. It didn’t have the Sarsaparilla-tinged exuberance it did upon release, but it was elegant, balanced, and very good.
I’ve found the 02 heavy and clumsy. Though my last two 96s seemed much better than prior ones.
Maybe luck. Bollinger carry out secondary fermentation under cork, I’ve often wondered if that is another factor in what’s already a process hard to make consistent.
Heavy and clumsy are two words I would never use for this wine. Is it a bigger rosé than many, yes, but that makes it work well with red wine food!
Sorry. I was referring to the white not the rose.
Silly me.
the 04 Grande Année Rose is a rock star. Brilliant acidity and no signs of oxidation.
Let the haters hate. Drink it if you like it.
The issue at Bollinger has been related to their decision to stop using sulfur at disgorgement. I’m not sure why they didn’t just lower the sulfur at disgorgement as they still use it at other steps in the process. The end result has been some stunning wines when young, some showing a bit oxidized when young, and, overall, a rather uneven aging of wines IMO. When on, these wines can be great, but if you are buying in quantity, you have to be willing to accept that bottles will not always show the same (even within the same case). The variation is troublesome enough to me that I have cut back on what I purchase and cellar. Even though I often find the wines to be damn good, the same wine can sometimes be oxidized due to their choice of no sulfur.
Great info Brad. Im happy you got into this thread and provided the answer to the issue Kirk brought up. Fortunately, Ive not had any of the oxidised bottles nor any noticeable sulfur traces in any of the bottles consumed. Caveat emptor.
Brad, when did they start making the change in sulfur at disgorgement?
I couldn’t agree more about the superb value of the the Special Cuvée. Early this year I finished the last of a case of it disgorged in September 2009 and it was fantastic. A great testament to the complexity and age-ability of even their entry level bubbles.
Thank you for the input wrt '02 (And the minor input on the '04 as well). I was happy to get few '04s at a good exchange rate. I hope to taste them side by side in the future.
I don’t know exactly when. I want to say sometime in the 2005-2008 timeframe, but I could be off a little. They did acknowledge a problem in 2011-12 and started using jetting to help protect things and reduce variability, but I’m not sure that has done all that much. Their theory is that the oak aging protects the wine a good deal and the jetting keeps out the oxygen so no sulfur at disgorgement works for them. I disagree.