🍾 Bollinger Special Cuvée

Bollinger Special Cuvée is a non-vintage white Champagne in the Brut style from the house Bollinger in Aÿ (Marne).

The name Special Cuvée was given in 1911 by the British agent of Georges Bollinger; according to the house, the blend contains over 85 % Grand and Premier Cru grapes and a majority of reserve wines, some of them kept in magnums for 7 to 15 years, the wine is cellar aged twice as long as the appellation requires, and the dosage is 7 to 8 g/l.

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). Brut on the label is an EU sugar term: less than 12 g of sugar per litre.

Why it matters to you. No year on the label means it is not a vintage wine: the house may blend wines from different harvests. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.