Bollinger release the PN VZ19
‘Delicate and complex - A unique vision of Pinot Noir, by Bollinger’
Each new edition of the Bollinger PN cuvée brings with it a singular and contemporary vision of the Maison’s terroir and expertise, acting as a symbol of the union between tradition and innovation. Today, Bollinger welcomes a new edition into their range: PN VZ19. The base year is a 2019. The principal cru is Verzenay. The result of a Blanc de Noirs made from 100% Pinot Noir, designed to make terroir the star of the show.
Taste the new Bollinger release, PN VZ19, at either our exclusive Masterclass or Dinner events.
Saturday May 3
Hosted by Thibaut Jaubert, The Business Manager International for Asia and Pacific territories
Masterclass: 3-5pm, 10 Champagnes with canapes, $195
Dinner: 7pm, 12 Champagnes with 4 courses, $395
Masterclass Wine List:
Special Cuvée 375ml
Special Cuvée
Special Cuvée Magnum
PN VZ19
PN AYC18
La Grande Année 2015
La Grande Année 2014 Magnum
Rosé NV
Rosé NV Magnum
La Grande Année Rosé 2015
Dinner Wine List:
Special Cuvèe 375ml
Special Cuvèe
Special Cuvèe Magnum
PN VZ19
PN AYC18
PN TX17
PN VZ16
La Grande Année 2015
La Grande Année 2014 Magnum
B 13
Rosé NV
La Grande Année Rosé 2015
The Wines & Menu TBC
Special Cuvèe 375ml, Our Price $80
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. The house declines to volunteer the reserve composition of each release, which is disappointing and counterintuitive, being one of its strongest points of difference. As an indication, the most recent blend laid in the cellar comprises less than 40% of the base vintage and an enormous 60%+ of reserves – the majority from the previous vintage, with eight older vintages, the oldest from reserve magnums. A massive total of 400 wines in all. True to the mandate of attentiveness to the intricate details of freshness, Special Cuvée continues its evolution to a fresher and more lively style. The fragrant, red-fruited generosity that defines the southern Montagne de Reims style of Bollinger leaps from the glass in a captivating panoply of red apples, red cherries and succulent red berries of all kinds, intricately juxtaposed by the cut of citrus freshness. Old barrel fermentation and lees age unite in amplifying a deep core of spicy complexity. The generous, creamy texture of barrels and lees magnificently contrasts the pronounced fine, salty chalk minerality of esteemed crus. As brilliant and rock-solid as ever.
96 Points, Tyson Stelzer, The Champagne Guide (2024)
Special Cuvèe, Our Price $104
Special Cuvèe Magnum, Our Price $322
1st Course
PN VZ19, New Release, Our Price $241
PN returns to its Verzenay origins (as per its first iterations as VZ15 and VZ16, followed by TX17 and AYC18). 2019 ranks among the best of Champagne’s recent vintages and the cool, north-eastern slopes of Verzenay uphold compelling tension in the midst of a warming climate. The result is a magnificent juxtaposition between the rumbling, billowing depths of ripe pinot noir like only Bollinger can conjure, thanks to the presence and magnitude of primarily Aÿ and also Avenay-val-d’Or, Tauxières, and Mutigny, and the pristine definition and lifted freshness of vibrant fruit that characterises Verzenay. Boasting a medium straw hue, it wells up with deep black and red cherry fruit, satsuma plum, blackberries and layers of anise and sarsaparilla. Barrel fermentation and a record 25 percent of reserve magnums lend their characteristic creaminess and subtle patisserie complexity, but it is the fine chalk minerality of Verzenay chalk that remains the hero of a long finish, upholding magnificent texture, tension and crystalline brightness like no other pinot village.”
97 Points Tyson Steltzer (May 2024)
PN AYC18, Our Price $228
PN AYC18 is a showpiece for the expansive dimensions, intoxicating allure and purity of Aÿ pinot noir; a wonderfully characterful blanc de noirs that celebrates the sumptuous fruit generosity of 2018 and the purity and precision of this fabled cru. With the generous tones of a full straw hue and a blush tint, it ripples with grand fruit depth of red cherries and perfectly ripe plums. The magnificent depth of complexity that is Bollinger rumbles in deep reserves, reminiscent of fruit mince spice and dried nectarines. I love that it is so emphatically Aÿ, so intrinsically Bollinger, and yet all transposed with the transparency and delicious fruit generosity that is 2018. It holds fantastic, succulent allure on a very long finish; the ripeness of 2018 translating in supple, silky fruit generosity, yet in no way heavy or broad, beautifully energised by the fine chalk salinity and pure acid freshness that make Aÿ such a beloved place.”
97 Points Tyson Steltzer (June 2023)
PN TX17, Our Price $263
While the inaugural releases of Bollinger’s non-vintage blanc de noirs were a competition between the winemakers to create the finest blend, now the competition is between the villages. The first two renditions (VZ15 and VZ16) were founded on Verzenay, and Aÿ will follow in AYC18, but it’s the premier cru of Tauxières that stepped forward as the hero in the more challenging season of 2017. There is a compelling energy and tension at play here that express both time and place, with season and village uniting in an upwelling of morello cherry and fresh strawberry fruit, charged with a line of vibrant acidity and a glittering cascade of chalk minerality. Again, a strong and deep representation of grand cru reserves comprise a generous proportion of the blend, building a rich core of black cherry fruit and a fanfare of Bollinger complexity that elicits recollections of fruit mince spice, fruit cake, mixed spice and prunes. I love the confidence with which it delivers such complexity without ever losing its focus, lift or energy on a long and linear finish – the grand hallmark of the modern Bollinger.
96 Points Tyson Stelzer, champagne.guide (2023)
PN VZ16, Our Price $263
Bollinger is a master of pinot noir and if PN VZ15 hinted that its wizardry extends beyond the southern slopes of the Montagne de Reims then PN VZ16 proves it. This is pinot noir that sets a dramatic juxtaposition between the purity of 2016, the chalk mineral texture of the elegant, north-eastern slope of Verzenay and the black fruit depth and presence of Bollinger. Liquorice and exotic spice dance over a stage of tangy red and black cherry fruits, to a backdrop of the toasty, spicy nuances of reserve magnums. Brilliant vitality, chalk mineral articulation and superb line and length. Wow!
97 Points Tyson Stelzer, champagne.guide (2021)
2nd Course
La Grande Année 2015, Our Price $362
The magnitude of pinot noir in the inimitable hands of Bollinger is in a great place in 2015, making for a La Grande Année as dramatic as it is delicious. Depth of black cherry, satsuma plum and blackberry is set to an exoticism unique to Bollinger and reminiscent of fruit mince spice, honey and ginger cake. It holds exceptional line and graceful allure.
97 Points, Tyson Stelzer, Champagne.Guide (2024)
La Grande Année 2014 Magnum, Our Price $997
. The cool summer of 2014 played this out in intricate detail to magnificent effect, providing a transparent backdrop and blessing it first with a bright radiance to its medium straw hue and second to a lead of fantastic energy and freshness. The wonderfully pure red cherries of Verzenay leap forth, backed by the spice of Aÿ and a more incisive lemon and white peach precision than expected from Chouilly and Oiry. Its chalk minerality is likewise heightened, more crystalline and textural than ever, amplifying freshness and stamina, drawing out an incredible finish of pinpoint detail. In the midst of such radiance, the exuberant presence that defines Bollinger rumbles away in great depth through the mid-palate and close, with all the theatrics of mixed spice, fig, dried nectarine and toasted brioche culminating in wonderfully voluptuous texture. A truly great Bollinger by every measure, blessed with incredible longevity, and grand testimony to the wizardry of this house to draw out all the glories of endurance and elegance from a less than simple season.
97 Points, Tyson Stelzer, The Champagne Guide
B 13, Our Price $335
It was partly fortuitous coincidence, though no less glorious, that Bollinger was able to grasp that one in one hundred year opportunity to tactically take advantage of the clever twist that with sufficiently narrow spacing '13' reads as 'B'. But this was of course an afterthought rather than a motivation for the creation of this limited edition and to no small extent unexpected cuvée. Its first surprise comes in that it exists at all - there must have been a very strong temptation to instead release La Grande Année in 2013, not least in the dazzling wake of the tremendous and sublime 2008, the season to which 2013 comes closest this century. The second surprise is the decision to build it first and foremost around the cool, north-east-facing crus of Verzenay and Verzy, instead of in the more obvious and generous mood of Bollinger's home vineyards centred around Aÿ (though Verzenay does rank a close second in the sourcing of the house). This philosophy of chasing the style of the season over that of the house is one that Bollinger continued in 2014, to tremendous success in a wonderfully elegant La Grande Année. B is a wine every bit as deserving of the Bollinger stamp, and indeed an even greater wine than La Grande Année 2014. The brightness of the cool, late 2013 season mostly on the northern Montagne de Reims manifests in a pinot noir of refreshing red cherry fruit purity that transcends what the depth of spice and complexity on the bouquet anticipates. Yet it is still emphatically and intrinsically Bollinger, the full theatrics of the Bollinger universe on grand parade in exotic and enticing depth. Yet the main act here remains emphatically and gloriously the purity of its red fruits, set on edge by fine-grained chalk mineral texture that lingers long and strong. This is a blanc de noirs that resolutely and unashamedly juxtaposes the monumental depth of Vieilles Vignes Françaises, and does so with energy, grace, enduring longevity and mesmerising purity. It's a grand exemplar not only for the new Bollinger, but more profoundly for the chalk minerality that pinot noir is capable of manifesting, thanks first to the grandeur of Verzenay, second to the finesse of 2013 and third to the exacting master craftsmanship that sets this lauded estate on an ever-higher trajectory.
98 Points Tyson Stelzer, champagne.guide (2021)
3rd Course
Rosé NV, Our Price $175
The first surprise of this cuvée is its exuberant lift of captivatingly fragrant bouquet, like nothing I have ever seen from Bollinger Rosé NV before, an exquisite explosion of rose petal, musk, cherry liqueur and cherry kernel that defines the very essence of southern Montagne pinot noir. The second is that the palate delivers all of the same, set against a phenomenal backdrop of super fine, emphatically chalk-defined mineral texture. This contrast of fragrance and minerality delivers a freshness that transcends Bollinger, and yet delivers every bit of the deep-set spice and creamy texture that we expect. An absolute phenomenon, radiant in its magnificent medium salmon hue, and drop-dead gorgeous..
97 Points, Tyson Stelzer, champagne.guide (2020)
La Grande Année Rosé 2015, Our Price $471
Like a racing spinnaker, this is tightly trimmed yet voluminous in character. Toasty notes of roasted almond and vanilla wafer are deftly integrated with sun-dried black cherry, baked peach, blood orange sorbet and candied ginger flavors, all well-defined by racy acidity and a subtle streak of salinity. This is long and fragrant, with pain d'épices, graphite and tea rose notes playing on the finish. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Disgorged February 2024. Drink now through 2040.
97Points Alison Napjus, Wine Spectator (November 2024)
4th Course
More on Bollinger and Your Host for the evening…
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Bollinger
Since 1829, Champagne Bollinger has been making great wines with a powerful, refined and complex style, expressing the aromas of the fruit in all its dimensions.This truly unique taste is the result of a particular affinity for the elegance of pinot noir, uncompromising excellence, an exceptional vineyard and traditional craftsmanship handed down through the generations with the utmost care since 1829.
The Bollinger style is inimitable and recognised as such by great connoisseurs, the fruit of rigorous methods and a respect for principles handed down from one generation to the next in a great tradition that has always valued experience above all. This style expresses the aromas of the fruit in all its dimensions. The Bollinger style has a dense and subtle presence, a balance of the intensity of great pinot noirs and the freshness of chardonnays from the Côte des Blancs. Bollinger wines release a creamy effervescence resulting from vinifying in oak barrels and prolonged contact with the yeasts. They guarantee a unique tasting experience that always offers something new. This style stems from a solid base, rooted in 5 tangible principles: the House Vineyards; pinot noir; magnums of reserve wines; the barrels and time.
champagne-bollinger.com -
PN returns to its Verzenay origins (as per its first iterations as VZ15 and VZ16, followed by TX17 and AYC18). 2019 ranks among the best of Champagne’s recent vintages and the cool, north-eastern slopes of Verzenay uphold compelling tension in the midst of a warming climate. The result is a magnificent juxtaposition between the rumbling, billowing depths of ripe pinot noir like only Bollinger can conjure, thanks to the presence and magnitude of primarily Aÿ and also Avenay-val-d’Or, Tauxières, and Mutigny, and the pristine definition and lifted freshness of vibrant fruit that characterises Verzenay. Boasting a medium straw hue, it wells up with deep black and red cherry fruit, satsuma plum, blackberries and layers of anise and sarsaparilla. Barrel fermentation and a record 25 percent of reserve magnums lend their characteristic creaminess and subtle patisserie complexity, but it is the fine chalk minerality of Verzenay chalk that remains the hero of a long finish, upholding magnificent texture, tension and crystalline brightness like no other pinot village.”
97 Points Tyson Steltzer (May 2024)Bollinger continues its quest to highlight its Pinot Noir expertise with arguably the most exciting and focused wine yet in the PN series, focusing on the grand cru village of Verzenay from 2019 (although backed up with reserves from all around the Montagne de Reims and Grande Vallée, 25% of which comes directly from magnums). It weaves a beautiful line between the clear, long and ultra-fine Pinot of Verzenay, mineral and understated, the quiet power of the 2019 vintage, and the stunning complexity of reserves. Roast apricot, scorched orange citrus and soft raspberry fruits are backed up beautifully by toasty nougat, cocoa and dried pear ageing characters. It's a striking win
95 Points Tom Hewson, Decanter (March 2024) -
Immersed in the wine culture at a very young age by his grandfather, wine grower in Languedoc, Thibaut is passionate about food and wine culture.
After his graduation in PURPAN engineering school in Toulouse, he is moving to Burgundy to get a Master’s Degree in International trade from Dijon Business School. He started his career as sales and marketing manager based in Hong Kong, promoting the wines of several estates on the Asian region.
After 5 years, he is back to France, to take the position of Area Manager for Mouton Rothschild to promote its wines in African and Middle East markets. Position that he will hold for 8 years, before joining Champagne Bollinger as Business Manager International for Asia and Pacific territories.