Wine Advisor
Bollinger, La Grande Annee Brut 2004
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Description
La Grande Annee by Champagne Bollinger is an exceptional, timeless champagne. Crafted with artisanal savoir-faire, it undergoes vinification in oak barrels, lending complex aromas and remarkable aging potential. The 2014 vintage, an assembly of 19 crus (61% Pinot Noir from Aÿ and Verzenay, 39% Chardonnay from Chouilly and Oiry), reveals golden glints and a precise, fruity nose. On the palate, fine effervescence, vinosity, delicate acidity, and sea-air finish create excellent length.
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: David Schildknecht
All that having been noted, it is Kaufmann and then-director Ghislain de Montgolfier who can take responsibility for the success that is Bollinger’s 2004 Brut Grande Annee, a bottling that, in marrying the restraint associated with young wines from this house with that of a relatively cool and copious but ultimately fascinating vintage, has rendered a work of subtle intrigue and refinement that will merit a dozen or more years’ attention. Quite pale in color and with unexpectedly green-gold shimmering, this two-thirds Pinot Noir cuvee displays alluringly silken texture and refinement of mousse as well as delicacy. Fresh white peach, yellow tomato, lime, and rhubarb offer subtly tart, brightly juicy succulence, and a mingling of chalk and sweet-saline oyster liquor serves for saliva-inducement in a long finish tinged with lightly toasted grains and nuts. It will be good to return next year to Bollinger, one of the houses I visited on my first day in Champagne 30 years ago and a longtime favorite; but for 2014, I was forced by press of time and complications of scheduling to limit myself to tasting a single new release. Early this year, dozen-year veteran Bollinger chef de cave Mathieu Kauffmann unexpectedly announced his resignation to join Reichsrat von Buhl (part of recently deceased Achim Niederberger’s plan for renewing that venerable Pfalz estate, inter alia through increased attention to its already impressive sparkling wine program), and in June Bollinger’s director Jerome Philipon announced that Kaufmann’s former right-hand, Gilles Descotes, would succeed him. Imported by Terlato Wines, Lake Bluff, IL; tel. (847) 604-8900
Reviewed by: Stephan Reinhardt
The 2004 Grande Année Brut was disgorged in November 2013 and offers a clear, very refined, and complex though still closed bouquet with fruity aromas of fresh and stewed apples, yellow grapefruit, kaki, walnuts, tobacco, herbal tea, nougat and spicy flavors; everything is discreet here, subtle, perfectly melted together and smoky, very smoky. On the palate, this Pinot Noir/Chardonnay blend wine is highly complex and elegant, firmly structured and quite long. This is an excellent Champagne.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Bollinger's 2004 Brut La Grand Année is a beautiful wine with a lot of vintage character, but the style is a bit less oxidative than Bollinger fans are likely to expect. Pears, hazelnuts, spices and crushed rocks all flow through to the tense, vibrant finish. It will be interesting to see if the 2004 puts on weight in the bottle, as so many wines from this vintage have. Today, it is bright, linear and quite pretty. Green apples, pears and flowers all add lift on the close.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
(disgorged January, 2013): Light, bright gold. Powerful orchard and pit fruit aromas are complemented by smoky lees, iodine, chamomile and buttered toast. At once fleshy and energetic, offering deeply pitched poached pear, peach pit and brioche flavors and a suave floral element. Finishes smoky and very long, with mounting spiciness and lingering floral and vanilla notes.
About the Producer
Established in the commune of Aÿ-Champagne in 1829, the House of Bollinger is home to an impressive legacy of winemaking excellence, achieved through the polished precision of a finely tuned timepiece. Today, the Bollinger Champagne House reigns over 440 acres dedicated to the vine in the Champagne region of northern France, of which an impressive 85% is classified Grand Cru or Premier Cru. The vineyards are spread out over 7 main communes. Pinot Noir is planted in Ay (the headquarters of the House), as well as Avenay, Verzenay, Louvois and Tauxieres. Meanwhile, the House’s Chardonnay comes from Cuis, while Pinot Meunier is planted in Champvoisy. A complex and powerful grape, Pinot Noir represents 60% of the total plantings, which corresponds to the exact proportion of this grape variety in the blend of the House’s signature Special Cuvee. The two crown gems of the House are its twin plots, the Clos Saint-Jacques and Chaudes Terres, where ungrafted pre-phylloxera vines are tended to by hand, their fruit used to produce the very exclusive and rare Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Francaises cuvee.
