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  • Country ranking ?

    831
  • Producer ranking ?

    39
  • Decanting time

    15min
  • When to drink

    now to 2030
  • Food Pairing

    Shrimp Crostini with Toasted Baguettes

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Bollinger La Grande Annee 2012 released

By Liv-ex

Today, Bollinger Grande Annee 2012 was released in the UK at £880 per 12×75.

Champagne specialist, Richard Juhlin commented that “the wine is made from 21 villages with Aÿ and Verzenay in the driver’s seat backed by elegance from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oiry”.

Juhlin awarded the wine 95 points. In his tasting note he said that “anyone who has patience will be rewarded with truffled f...

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The Story

La Grande Année is the very embodiment of an exceptional, timeless champagne. Artisanal savoir-faire is at the heart of its production. One such artisanal technique is vinification, which takes place in oak barrels that are around 20 years old. This helps the wine develop complex aromas, and, thanks to micro-oxygenation, lends an extraordinary ageing potential. These 4,000 barrels are housed and maintained in the Champagne Bollinger Cooperage....

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Vintage 2012

2012 was deemed one of the best vintages the Champagne region has ever experienced. “The quality and the intensity are definitely there to make an outstanding vintage,” Dom Perignon chef de cave Richard Geoffroy told Decanter. The base wines show a lovely richness as well as the acidity needed to make outstanding and long-lived Champagnes. Yields are very low, in some places half of the allowed production.

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Tasting note

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Written Notes

A jeroboam format. A blend of 65% Pinot Noir and 35% Chardonnay. 

Intense, straw yellow colour. Refined, spicy nose with jasmin, yellow fruits, pear and toastiness. Dry, crisp and very firm palate with mineral citrus notes some biscuity and brioche. Long and lingering. Super-concentrated champagne that will deliver its best in 2035-2040. – JL 96p. (April 2024)

  • 96p

This makes a bold statement. Ripe, powerful and creamy with concentrated red-berry, nectarine, grapefruit and cashew aromas. I love the juiciness and brightness of this wine, which has such a long, graceful finish. Only 65% pinot noir, but it tastes like a lot more. 100% barrel fermentation and maturation. Drink or hold.

  • 95p

“The 2012 marks the second La Grande Année vintage bottled in the new bottle shape, whose narrow neck is to induce something similar to the magnum effect. Upon launch, the 2012 has 10 months of post-disgorgement time and the wine is showing elegantly restrained and youthful. On the nose the old-oak character is less prominent than in most other Bollinger vintages and the deliberate oxidation is well under control and in a supporting role. The fine, cool and pure fruitiness is at the fore with lovely spicy and nutty notes supporting. Lemony fruitiness with yellow apple and ripe apricot as well as some tropical fruit emerging in the glass. On the palate the key word is balance, the wine is very complete with freshness, intensity, refined tension and chalky salinity. 8g/l dosage is spot on. Still young but has the building blocks of longevity. For me similar in quality to the 2008 but this will come around and peak earlier. ”

  • 95p

“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.”

  • 91p
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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 rosé

PN TX 17

PN VZ15

PNVZ16

R.D. Bollinger

RD Collection

Rosé

Special Cuvée

Verzenay Réserve

Vieilles Vignes Françaises

Vieilles Vignes Francaises Collection

Vins Clairs Cramant Vinifié en Fût

Vintage Champagne

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