🍾 Bollinger R.D. 2004

Bollinger R.D. 2004 is the 2004 release of R.D. by the house Bollinger, a vintage white Champagne in the Extra Brut style.

According to the house, the blend draws on 16 crus, fermentation takes place entirely in oak barrels, and the wine is sold a few months after disgorgement with an extra brut dosage of 3 g/l. According to the house, the cellar ageing lasts more than four times longer than the minimum set by the appellation rules.

The house Bollinger is based in Aÿ (Marne); it was founded in 1829 and, according to the house, is family-owned and focused on Pinot Noir.

The boundaries of the Champagne area were set by a law of 6 May 1919: parts of the Marne, Aube, Aisne, Haute-Marne and Seine-et-Marne departments. The designation’s specification allows seven grape varieties, dominated by Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier; grapes are picked as whole bunches, that is by hand, and the yield is limited to 10,400 kg per hectare.

According to the Comité Champagne, Champagne is served chilled to 8–10 °C, and bottles are kept in the dark at a steady 10–15 °C, without vibration. An opened bottle is best closed with a sparkling-wine stopper and kept cold.

It is sold under the protected designation of origin Champagne: the bubbles come only from a second fermentation in the bottle, and the wine is aged for at least 15 months before sale (36 for vintage). Extra Brut on the label is an EU sugar term: 0 to 6 g of sugar per litre.

Why it matters to you. The year on the label is the harvest year, so different years of the same line are different wines. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.