NV Bollinger Brut Special Cuvée

(60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier; 8 g/l dosage; L1403801): Pale yellow. Toasty aromas of apple and pear nectar are complemented by hints of toffee, honey and orange zest. Full and expansive on the palate, offering ripe orchard and pit fruit flavors and an undercurrent of smoky minerals and buttered toast. Smooth and gently spicy on the clinging, nicely focusd finish.

Author: Josh Raynolds

Disgorged in the second half of 2019, the latest release of Bollinger's NV Brut Special Cuvée is based on the 2015 vintage, complemented by around 60% reserve wines. The wine is still quite tightly wound after its recent disgorgement, opening in the glass with notes of crisp yellow orchard fruit, freshly baked bread, clear honey and orange peel, with little sign of the nuttiness to come with bottle age. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, muscular and incipiently textural, with a deep core, ripe acids and a pinpoint mousse. This isn't the most incisive vintage of Special Cuvée, but it's powerful and vinous and will have fine gastronomic potential with a little bottle age.

Drink Dates: 2022-2035

Author: William Kelley

Fine bubbles combine nicely with the cooked apples, pie crust and lemon rind. Some biscuit, too. Full body. Layered and creamy with a crisp finish. Always delicious. Drink now.

Author: James Suckling

This harmonious Champagne is wonderfully vibrant as it dances across the palate, with the satinlike mousse carrying flavors of white cherry, Marcona almond and ground coffee that show accents of candied kumquat, ginger, aromatic verbena and graphite. A streak of racy salinity emerges on mouthwatering finish. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Drink now through 2025. 11,000 cases imported.

Drink Dates: 2021-2025

Author: Alison Napjus