Wine Advisor
Bollinger, R.D. Extra Brut 1990
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Description
Non-Vintage Champagne is the most common type of Champagne on the market. Only the best grapes in exceptional years are used to create a Vintage Champagne. A premium Vintage Champagne is typically aged for more than 7 years. Bollinger R.D. series champagne is aged 10-15 years before release. It embodies the House’s commitment to excellence, in honour of those who expect exceptional quality without fail. Spent aging on the lees results in an extraordinary range of primary, secondary and tertiary characteristics that come in a frame of almost unimaginable tension of developed richness and freshness. This champagne is sourced from a total of 14 crus, 91% of which are Grand Cru and 9% of which are Premier Cru. It is a blend of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay. The colour is medium shiny gold, with a lively mousse. The nose is open and fresh, subtle fruit notes, acacia honey, fresh walnut flesh, wild fennel, draw you in with a hint of oriental spice and a cool freshness.
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
A well-stored bottled of the 1990 Bollinger R.D. was at its apogee on New Year’s Eve, although I suppose a British taster might have waited even longer. Bollinger is known for its very full-bodied, dry style—this is dinner-table Champagne—so it came as no surprise that the R.D. bottling from the very rich, ripe 1990 growing season was remarkably mouthfilling. The surprise was how much energy and power this full gold-colored wine still had, a quarter-century after the harvest.The cork emerged with a discreet pffft, and the R.D. showed a slow but very fine stream of bubbles in the glass. Its fully developed nose and palate displayed a strong uni aroma (and that was before our uni course arrived!), complicated by deeply pitched notes of hazelnut, toffee, roasted nuts, truffle and baked bread, plus a faintly oxidative whiff of Calvados. The shocker was the back half of the wine: incredibly tactile and layered, with explosive vinosity and a saline, mounting, palate-staining finish.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Pale copper color. Classic Bollinger aromas of controlled oxidation: oatmeal, walnut, sauteed porcini, toffee, beeswax and earth. Rich, leesy and powerful, with flavors of butter, toasted almond and nuts. Densely packed and harmonious. More youthful in the mouth than the nose suggests. Very long and strong on the aftertaste.
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.
