x
  • Country ranking ?

    342
  • Producer ranking ?

    7
  • Decanting time

    No
  • When to drink

    Now
  • Food Pairing

    Seafood, Salads & Consommes

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

Close

The Story

Destroyed at the dawn of the 20th century by the infamous phylloxera vastatrix, all the Champagne region’s vines had to be replanted with American rootstocks that were resistant to the destructive insect.

All of them? Not quite... In Aÿ, two Bollinger plots classified Grand cru, the “Chaudes Terres” and “Clos St Jacques”, were miraculously spared by the phylloxera. From these vines cultivated using traditional methods, planted “en foule” (without any visible order) according to the provignage method, and worked by hand, is crafted the Vieilles Vignes Françaises cuvée: a Blanc de Noirs matured in the cellar for at least five years, with a cork stopper and then disgorged by hand. Vieilles Vignes Françaises is a confidential production of a few thousand bottles, an exceptional and extremely rare wine, with a memory of bygone days; a symbol, an extraordinary, evocative and moving legacy.

 

Bathed in golden morning sun of Champagne, three diminutive Pinot Noir plots are under the exacting scrutiny of vineyard workers. The plots, surrounded by stone walls, have been given special attention for over one hundred years. These are the only ungrafted vines in nearly all of Champagne that have managed to escape the ravages of phylloxera decade after decade. It is on this morning that the vineyard workers have discovered a fateful problem on the 16-are Croix Rouge plantation in the village of Bouzy. The year is 2004—phylloxera has landed.

“It was over in the blink of an eye. Right when we found out that phylloxera had hit us, it only took a couple of weeks before everything was gone. There wasn’t a thing we could do,” recalls Bollinger’s Christian Dennis.

Champagne Bollinger has cared for the vines on these three plots with an extraordinary passion since 1969. Renowned English wine author Cyril Ray was the guest of Madame Lily Bollinger when he recorded the history of the Bollinger Champagne house in 1968. His attention was drawn to these exceptional plots and the truly unique character of the wines they produced. At his urging, Lily Bollinger decided to produce wines from these plots under her own name. The 1969 vintage produced in honour of Madame Bollinger’s 70th birthday was released in 1974. The first actually commercial vintage was released in 1970. This ‘museum wine’ instantly became a favourite among collectors and a much-desired rarity, so seldom encountered in a lifetime.

Bollinger is one of only a handful of the remaining family-owned prestige champagne houses. Founded in 1829, Bollinger attained legendary status in its pursuit of perfection: its renowned Charter of Ethics and Quality was published in 1992 by Christian Bizot and Ghislain de Montgolfier, when the syndicate of Grand Marque houses was not ready to accept the stringent criteria as a guideline for all houses. Bollinger decided to stick with the Charter and its own values, which respect not only quality, but also family, the region and tradition. In an age of increasing champagne production and giant champagne houses, Bollinger has been able to keep its scale small. Export manager Philippe Menguy explains:


“Every year we produce two million bottles of champagne, even though we could sell four million. We have 12 million bottles in our cellars, which is a six-year inventory. We own and cultivate a majority of our grape needs, so we’re not dependent on purchased grapes.”

Close

Wine Information

1969 Vieilles Vignes Francaises Champagne Bollinger

I have tasted this “living museum” champagne only once, when we had a vertical tasting of Vieilles Vignes Francaises. From those eight vintages – 1969, 1970, 1973, 1975, 1980, 1982, 1985 and 1988 – this 1969 was everything but “oldest museum wine” with exceptional freshness and charming sparkle, and it came in second position right after the great 1985. My mystified notes were then:
This rare and historical bottle was in excellent condition. Decanted 30 minutes. Has dark, deep old gold colour with tiny and subtle slowly running bubbles.
It formed one of the biggest and widest champagne bouquets I have ever experienced, which exploded wide open in 15 minutes, and was almost too irresistible. This was not a “champagne” - it tasted like a finest red burgundy, but it was far more mouth-filling, fat and has more volume and elegance than any of them, and above all it has something superfluous which I could not express with any other word than “Vieilles Vignes Francaises”. It has the velvetness of a Cristal, the body of a great Krug and the ripeness and acidity of a Bollinger with a rich and never ending finish. Magic wine.

Close

Tasting note

color

Full

ending

Endless, Flavorful and Lingering

nose

Intense and Complex

recommend

Yes

taste

High in Acidity, Low alcohol content, Well-structured, Complex, Elegant, Rich and Ripe

Verdict

Outstanding and Masterpiece

Written Notes

I just needed to dip my nose for a second before I realized what wine it was. Here you are met by a blast of smells with an equally unmistakable as indescribable crystal clear identity. The volume is huge, but the wine is extremely fresh and acidic thanks to vintage. The aromatic spectrum is ranging from jasmine, passion fruit, sea buckthorn, licorice toffee, black olives, tar and charcoal grilled meat. A perfect bottle from the debut year.

A fantastic vintage and one of the greatest Champagnes I have ever tasted. I managed to get a bottle from the last remaining case the producer had. This is also unique for being the first vintage of Vieilles Vignes Françaises. A very dark golden-reddish color, perfect mousse, and a magnificent bouquet. There are none of the 73s vegetable tones, but instead this 69 is dominated by sweet licorice, dark chocolate, tobacco, apricot, and peach. The texture is oily and fat, but the acidity is impressive under the benign surface.

  • 99p
Ray observed ‘tropical botrytis,’ which Neil seconded. Its flavors also had the orange marmalade thing happening, along with game and what I wrote down as ‘white beef.’ Let’s just leave it at that! This 1969 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Francaises was exotic and flirting with demi-sec. It is a bottle that I have never seen before, and may never see again – wait, Bruce has two more, phew (94).
  • 94p

The flowering went through an unstable period with alternations of heat and cold which caused coulure and millerandage in a number of places. Violent storms were frequent throughout the summer and were occasionally accompanied by hail, which completely destroyed 900 ha in the region. Destructive downy mildew (the worst since 1958) attacked the leaves and bunches. Appearance of black rot and grey rot. 100% Pinot Noir from Aÿ (mostly) and Bouzy. Disgorged December 2012, dosage 4 g/l.
Tasted blind. NB The drink dates may look odd here but that's because the wine was not disgorged until 2012. Deep gold with very fine mousse curling up in the middle. Stunning and intense honey and mushrooms on the nose with a spicy texture. Just a light toastiness. Rich, deep and glorious, touch of smoky bacon but the honey dominates, honey on toast though the acidity kicks in and lifts the finish to amazing vitality. Goes on and on. (JH)

  • 96p
Load more notes

Information

Origin

Ay, Champagne

Other wines from this producer

B13 Blanc de Noirs

Bollinger Collection

Bollinger Special Cuvée

Coteaux Champenois La Côte aux Enfants

La Côte aux Enfants

La Grande Année

La Grande Année rosé

PN TX 17

PN VZ15

PNVZ16

R.D. Bollinger

RD Collection

Rosé

Special Cuvée

Verzenay Réserve

Vieilles Vignes Francaises Collection

Vins Clairs Cramant Vinifié en Fût

Vintage Champagne

Incorrect Information
If you found some information that is wrong, let us know
Are you sure you want do delete this wine? All information will be lost.
Are you sure you want to recommend this wine?
Are you sure you want hide this written note ?
Are you sure you want show this written note ?
UPGRADE MEMBER PLAN
Upgrade your membership now, it's quick and easy. We use PayPal, the world's largest payment system, it accepts all credit cards. Once you've chosen your membership level, you'll go directly to PayPal. You can cancel your membership at any time.
Thank you for your support!
 

Pro Member

 

Winemerchant Member

 

Winery Member

 

User

 

HOW TO USE TASTINGBOOK?

We recommend you to share few minutes for watching the following video instructions of how to use the Tastingbook. This can provide you a comprehensive understanding of all the features you can find from this unique service platform.

This video will help you get started



Taste wines with the Tastingbook


Create Your wine cellar on 'My Wines'



Explore Your tasted wines library



Administrate Your wine world in Your Profile



Type a message ...
Register to Tastingbook
Sign up now, it's quick and easy.
We use PayPal, the world's largest payment system, it accepts all credit cards.
Once you've chosen your membership level, you'll go directly to PayPal, where you can sign up for a free 7-day trial period. You can cancel your membership at any time. We wish you a rewarding journey to the world of Fine Wines.

Free 7 days Member trial

 

Member

 

Pro Member

 

Winemerchant Member

 

Winery Member

 

User

  Register