Wine Advisor
Bollinger, La Grande Annee Rose 2007
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Description
La Grande Année Rosé is an alternative expression of La Grande Année, transformed by the addition, at blending, of the unique red wine from La Côte aux Enfants. The emblematic single plot of the House, located in Aÿ, produces still red wine only when the grapes reach perfect ripeness. After vinification in small aged oak barrels and a prolonged ageing on its lees, even today every bottle of La Grande Année Rosé is riddled and disgorged by hand. This reflects all the expertise of the House, able to create a cuvée whose quality is matched only by its rarity. La Grande Année Rosé 2014 is the fruit of a blend of La Grande Année 2014 and a unique red wine from the Côte aux Enfants. This emblematic plot in Aÿ, one of Bollinger’s single plots, is vinified in red only when the grape maturation is optimal, a rarity that contributes to the quality of the wine produced.
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephan Reinhardt
A blend of 72% Pinot Noir (mainly from Aÿ and Verzenay) with 28% Chardonnay (Cramant and Oger), Bollinger's 2007 La Grande Année Rosé Brut is a rich and powerful yet fresh and tightly woven Champagne that gets its characteristic coral color from the addition of 6% red Côte aux Enfants Pinot Noir from Aÿ. Fermented entirely in barrels and aged under natural cork, the 2007 offers a chalky-pure and matured bouquet of redcurrants, green figs, dark chocolate, minty and dried floral expressions. Very fresh and elegant on the palate, this is a full-bodied, dense, complex and structured rosé with a long, intense and well-structured finish that reveals the youthful soul of this fresh and chalky 2007. This is a long-distance runner and surely a wine to have with poultry dishes such as duck or pigeon. It will strongly benefit from further bottle aging. Tasted in May and June 2018 from lot L1733457 that was disgorged in November 2016.
Reviewed by: William Kelley
Containing some 6% red wine from Bollinger's La Côte aux Enfants vineyard, the 2007 La Grande Année Rosé offers up a complex bouquet of dried orange peel, walnuts, confit lemon and crisp orchard fruit. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, chalky and structured, with bright acids and a more overtly phenolic chassis than its white counterpart, concluding with a long, delicately nutty finish.
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.
