Bollinger "Special Cuvée" Brut Champagne Magnum 1.5L

60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay, 15% Meunier sourced from more than 300 crus, including 85% grands and premiers crus; 15% fermented in old oak barrels. 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. Triumphant complexity is a given at Bollinger, but it’s the dynamic freshness and vitality that really set it apart as one of the most affordable Champagne benchmarks. (TS) (8/2020)

This harmonious Champagne is wonderfully vibrant as it dances across the palate, with the satinlike mousse carrying flavors of white cherry, Marcona almond and ground coffee that show accents of candied kumquat, ginger, aromatic verbena and graphite. A streak of racy salinity emerges on mouthwatering finish. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. (AN, Web-2021)

A restrained and decidedly youthful nose features notes of apple, yeast, plenty of citrus and a whisper of quinine character. There is both good volume and intensity to the delicious and solidly complex middle weight flavors that are supported by a firm and moderately exuberant mousse that carries over to the nicely dry but not really austere finale. This is lovely and a wine that could either be held for another 3 to 5 years or enjoyed now though I would be inclined to hold it for at least 2 to 3 years first. (10/2020)

Dominated, as always, by Pinot Noir and with wood fermentation and aging, this Champagne has a great poise between freshness and richness. It is intense and ripe, with apple and minerality coming together. The bottling is ready to drink. (RV) (12/2020)

The current release of Bollinger 'Special Cuvée' is composed of its customary blend of sixty percent pinot noir, twenty-five percent chardonnay and fifteen percent pinot meunier. It was finished with a dosage of eight grams per liter and offers up is classic pinot-shaded bouquet of white peach, apple, bread dough, a beautiful base of soil tones, a touch of hazelnut and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and complex, with a fine core of fruit, a good spine of acidity, elegant mousse and a long, well-balanced and classy finish. This is still a young wine and I would tuck it away in the cellar for at least a few years and let its acids relax a bit and its secondary layers of complexity emerge. 91+ (10/2020)

Disgorged in the second half of 2019, the latest release of Bollinger's NV Brut Special Cuvée is based on the 2015 vintage, complemented by around 60% reserve wines. The wine is still quite tightly wound after its recent disgorgement, opening in the glass with notes of crisp yellow orchard fruit, freshly baked bread, clear honey and orange peel, with little sign of the nuttiness to come with bottle age. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, muscular and incipiently textural, with a deep core, ripe acids and a pinpoint mousse. (WK) 91+ (3/2020)

Fresh apple scents incorporate into the spicy red fruit of pinot noir that makes up the majority of this blend. It’s dominated by reserve wines, some of them barrel-fermented, some of them aged for more than a decade in magnum bottles. This is a complex blend needing a year in bottle to settle and integrate. (12/2020)

A Pinot Noir-dominated blend that always includes a generous proportion of reserve wines. The biggest and boldest of the big house non-vintages, this is still made from mostly estate fruit. All of the reserve wines are aged in magnums under natural cork, and a large percentage of the fruit is still barrel fermented. In an age where a lot of the big houses are concentrating more on marketing and less on the product, Bollinger continues their tradition of quality. (Gary Westby, K&L Champagne buyer)