2003 "By BOLLINGER"
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Tasting notes
Just Ay, Verzenay and Cuis in this one. Two-thirds Pinot Noir. Picked 25 August! Earliest since 1893. Since then: 2007, 2011, 2017 and 2018 have all been very early harvests. Usually 100 days between flowering and harvest, but it was 80 days in 2003. They picked at 10.5% potential alcohol and 5.5 g/l sulphuric. pH >3.2 for the cuvée. Just 4.5 g/l malic so no malo in the winery. Deep straw. Sweet palate entry. Tastes sweet because of the low acid. If someone said it was a demi-sec you wouldn’t question them. Very flattering. Not rich and without that much undertow but very much alive. (JR)
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Bright gold with a strong mousse. Deep, complex displays smoky apple, peach pit, buttered toast and vanilla bean scents. Fleshy orchard fruit flavors are complemented by baking spices, floral honey and a hint of candied ginger. Deep, creamy, powerful and focused, with very good finishing lift and a lingering note of bitter pear skin. This is already complex enough to enjoy; serve it with a rich shellfish dish or with a young creamy cheese.
A very bizarre wine that has been carefully named and labelled quite differently from Bollinger's usual vintage champagnes Grande Annee because it is made from fruit grown in the exceptional heatwave vintage. It tastes nothing like the substantial, slow-maturing Bollinger style. Instead it's a sort of frothy, very soft, almost-pop. With a dosage of 8-9g/l it is reasonably persistent but sort of caresses the palate with a feather rather than anything more positive. This bottling is of more intellectual interest than great satisfaction for the hedonist. (JR)
About the producer
Bollinger is one of the most renowned and coveted Champagne Houses in the world, famous for its Pinot-Noir-dominant wines, in particular La Grande Année and the rare Vieilles Vignes Françaises (from pre-phylloxera vines).