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2012 Champagne Bollinger, La Grande Année, Brut

  • White
  • Dry
  • Full Bodied
  • Pinot Noir (65%), Chardonnay (35%)
Ready - youthful (Drink 2022 - 2039)
Jancis Robinson MW
17.5+/20
Antonio Galloni
94/100
William Kelley
95/100
Alistair Cooper MW
97/100
Product: 20128002174

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2012 Champagne Bollinger, La Grande Année, Brut

Description

This excellent vintage was entirely fermented in oak-barrel and is a wine that transcends much of what people expect in a Champagne. Now with a degree of maturity, it is the perfect addition to make any Christmas occasion a memorable one. Rich, complex & utterly delicious, it will delight from breakfast coupes, through to the turkey crown.

Gleaming gold in the glass. The nose entices with yellow fruit, ginger & hot buttered scones. The palate is softly foaming, powerful & utterly delicious. The fine mousse aids textural complexity, supporting flavours which weave between the immediate satisfaction of baked plum crumble with cream. And serious, savoury pinot musk from the thoroughbred chalk terroir, the maturity of the vintage & evolution in bottle. The finish is mineral, golden, expansive & dangerously morish. Fill you stockings now, and your cellars for future festivities.

Drink now to 2035+

Davy Zyw, Wine Buyer, Berry Bros & Rudd (September 2021)

Colour White
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2012
Alcohol % 12%
Maturity Ready - youthful (2022 - 2039)
Grape List Pinot Noir (65%), Chardonnay (35%)
Body Full Bodied
Producer Bollinger

Critics reviews

Jancis Robinson MW 17.5+/20
65% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay. 21 crus: mainly Aÿ and Verzenay for the Pinot Noir, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oiry for the Chardonnay. All base wines aged in old oak and riddled and disgorged by hand. Dosage 8 g/l. Disgorged in May 2019. Bright crème pâtissière nose with notes of Cox's orange pippin apple and lots of development. Really quite arresting. Much drier on the palate than the nose suggests, with a certain steeliness. Bone-dry finish but lots of substance on the mid palate. More recognisably Bollinger on the palate than the surprisingly rich, flirtatious nose, presumably informed by the vintage. Low-key mousse. This is clearly a long-distance runner.

Drink 2020 - 2034.
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (May 2020)
Antonio Galloni 94/100

The 2012 Grande Année is vibrant and wonderfully nuanced. Citrus peel, orchard fruit, brioche, dried flowers and chamomile are all finely knit in a Grand Année built on energy and persistence more than size. Readers will find a restrained Grand Année in 2012. There is plenty of the textural richness that is such a signature of the house style, but I am also struck by the wine's freshness. Best of all, the 2012 will drink well right out of the gate. It is quite expressive today, even in the early going. 

Drink 2020 - 2030
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (Nov 2020)
William Kelley 95/100

Disgorged in July 2019, Bollinger's 2012 Brut La Grande Année is showing well, offering up an incipiently complex bouquet of crisp yellow orchard fruit, fresh peach, orange oil, toasted walnuts and dried apricot that's still quite reserved with less than a year on cork. Full-bodied, deep and muscular, the 2012 is blockier and broader-shouldered than its 2008 predecessor, with a weightier and even more concentrated palate built around a bright spine of acidity, concluding with a chalky finish that carries appreciably dry extract. This isn't quite as elegant as the exquisite 2008, but it is a superb effort and obviously built to age.

Drink 2024 - 2050
William Kelley, Wine Advocate (Mar 2020)
Alistair Cooper MW 97/100
This goes from zero to 60 right out of the gate, with an intense spine of acidity driving tightly meshed flavors of crushed black currant, ground coffee, candied grapefruit peel and toasted almond. The profile expands on the palate, carried by the fine, raw silk–like mousse. Richly aromatic and expressive from start to lasting, spiced finish. Disgorged July 2019. Drink now through 2037.
Alistair Cooper MW, WineSpectator.com (Dec 2020)

About this wine

Champagne

Champagne

In 1668, the monk Dom Pérignon is credited with discovering the traditional method of making sparkling wine - a technique now used worldwide. Yet it is only in Champagne, France’s most northerly wine region, that this method produces wines of such finesse and prestige. Today, Champagne is home to over 15,000 growers and 290 Champagne houses. The region’s cool climate often necessitates a blend of grape varieties: Chardonnay brings fruit and elegance, while Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier provide body and backbone.

Find out more

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