The chef de cave of Champagne Bollinger Denis Bunner. Champagne Bollinger
Of all the non-vintage Champagnes that are readily available in the big-box retailers, and often discounted, Bollinger Special Cuvée is the one that I’m most likely to buy. I just like the Bollinger style.
So it was fun to attend a masterclass conducted recently in Sydney by Denis Bunner, the chef de cave of Champagne Bollinger. Now, trade tastings hosted by Champagne winemakers usually focus on the pointy end of the range, so the focus of this event on the humble Special Cuvée was additionally intriguing.
Special Cuvée was created in 1911, and the name is a combination of English and French words, to respect both languages.
Bunner showed us several ‘vins clairs’ (base wines) from the last (2022) harvest, chardonnays, pinot noirs and meunier, some Aÿ pinot noir reserve wine in magnum from the 2012 vintage, followed by a sample of the 2022 based Special Cuvée blend, which was ready to be bottled.
The Bollinger maison prides itself on five ‘Pillars’.
They are: pinot noir as the foundation of most of its wines; magnums for the ageing of reserve wines; barrels to ferment vintage cuvées; natural cork for both tirage and expedition; and finally time—they mature their wines longer than most and make a style that will age well after purchase.
Two memories from this impressive tasting:
Two 2022 Aÿ chardonnays, one barrel fermented and one not. The stainless-steel fermented wine was citrusy/creamy lees scented, no oak
This Article was originally published on The Real Review
