Champagne Bollinger, Special Cuvée, Brut

A rich though youthful golden hue, the NV Champagne Special Cuvée Brut is classic and ripe with lush, rounded, and complex aromas of golden apricot, hazelnut, wet stone, and black cherry. Made with 45% of the wine coming from the 2019 vintage, with 55% reserve wine, it’s full-bodied yet elegant and light on its feet, with a ripe and luxurious feel and just a hint of warmth on the finish. The mousse is refined and rounded. Long on the palate, it's inviting now but will have plenty of life ahead of it if stored property. This exceptional cuvée, with its distinctive personality, continues to be one of the best entry wines to the range from this house and is a benchmark wine for them.jeb_dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (November 2023)

Lots of biscuit aromas and a broad spectrum of fresh-citrus, candied-citrus, red apple and red-berry notes. Mouth-filling creaminess, an imposing presence, and a powerful structure for an NV Brut. Long, citrus and chalky finish that’s very clean and properly dry. 60% pinot noir, 30% chardonnay, 10% pinot meunier. Almost 20% barrel fermented and 62% reserve wines. Based on the 2017 vintage and disgorged July 2021. Drink nowjames_suckling, jamessuckling_com (July 2022)

A restrained and decidedly youthful nose features notes of apple, yeast, plenty of citrus and a whisper of quinine character. There is both good volume and intensity to the delicious and solidly complex middle-weight flavours that are supported by a firm and moderately exuberant mousse that carries over to the nicely dry but not really austere finale. This lovely wine could be held for another 3 to 5 years or enjoyed now, though I would be inclined to hold it for at least 2 to 3 years first.Drink from 2023 onwardallen_meadows, burghound_com.com (October 2020)

60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay, 15% Meunier sourced from more than 300 crus, including 85% grands and premiers crus; 15% fermented in old oak barrels. The complexity and richness of Special Cuvée is unparalleled among the entry non-vintage blends of every Champagne house, short of ascending to the mesosphere of Krug.Its grand recipe explains why, built on incredible depth of 50%-60% reserves. Triumphant complexity is a given at Bollinger, but it’s the dynamic freshness and vitality that really set it apart as one of the most affordable Champagne benchmarks.Drink 2022 - 2032Tyson Stelzer, Decanter.com

Disgorged six months ago, the latest rendition of the NV Brut Special Cuvée was bottled in 2015, and while its core derives from the 2014 vintage, it contains fully 60% reserve wines. The wine wafts from the glass with a classic bouquet of apples, pear, walnut oil and clear honey, followed by a medium to full-bodied palate that's broad-shouldered and Pinot Noir-driven, with a pinpoint mousse, nice tension at the core and a delicately chalky finish. Gilles Descotes commented that one of his biggest challenges is finding enough wine raised in wood to make the Special Cuvée in years where Grandé Année is producedand to that end, Bollinger is significantly expanding its barrel program to ferment even more base wine in used oak. William Kelley - 30/04/2019

Like its rosé counterpart, the latest release of Bollinger's NV Brut Special Cuvée is showing exceptionally well, bursting from the glass with aromas of honeyed apples, crisp stone fruit, buttery pastry, ripe lemons and fresh walnuts. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and vinous, with a deep core of beautifully ripe fruit, racy acids and a pillowy mousse, it's a charming, characterful wine that proves that Special Cuvée is firmly back where it belongs.Drink 2021 - 2035William Kelley, Wine Advocate (August 2022)

Lots of maturity, lightly bruised apples and character. Gentle fizz which feels as though it has had to battle its way through great intensity of flavour. Kick of acidity on the end. jancis_robinson_mw MW, JancisRobinson.com, 4 Dec 2012

60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay and 15% Meunier grown in chalk soil from 179 hectares of top-rated vineyards. The grapes undergo a gentle and slow pressing followed by fermentation, partly in oak casks. Special Cuvée is the result of blending between harvest grapes and reserve wines in magnums, some aged for more than 15 years. The wine matures for at least three years in bottle. Winemaker Gilles Descôtes. TA 4.5 g/l, pH 3.1, RS 10.8 g/l. Bottle weight 1,700 g. L2203168.Look out for that lot code, as this is a particularly stunning rendition of Bollinger, almost certainly improved with the bottling in magnum. Very fine texture, quite profoundly coloured, and remarkably fine mousse. Savoury, biscuity notes on the palate. Great length – a lovely example.Drink 2022 - 2024andy_howard_mw, JancisRobinson.com (October 2022)