Bollinger, Special Cuvée Champagne.

Special Cuvée is made from a majority of reserve wines fermented either in mature oak casks or small stainless steel tanks depending on the characteristics and fundamental potential of the base wines.

A significant part of the reserve wines have been fermented in mature oak barrels before being transferred into magnums, which are then stored under cork in Bollinger’s cellars for as long as 12 to 15 years, with a minimum of 5.

Blended some years later with the other base wines, coming from the two latest harvests in proportions which can change from one year to another, they impart the final blend with an inimitable and unrivalled consistency and majesty.

The NV Brut Special Cuvee opens with elegant, well-delineated aromas of honey, brioche, roasted nuts, orange zest, flowers and peaches, of which appear on the palate in a classy, finessed expression of the house style. This is an especially refined and delicious NV Champagne. The Special Cuvee is roughly 60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier sourced from a variety of vineyards. Bollinger adds 5-10% of reserve wines (in this case from 1995 and 1996, aged in magnums) which gives this offering its lovely complexity.