Champagne Bollinger
Vieilles Vignes Françaises 2014

At the beginning of the 20th century, all vineyards in the Champagne region were destroyed by phylloxera. Every single vine should be planted again, from palnts coming from the USA, to be able to fight the devasting insect. The exception is a small territory of the Bollinger Maison: Chaude Terres and Clos St. Jacques, in the famous village of Ay, classified as Grand Cru.

It was about two old vineyards, cultivated following the stratification method, worked manually and sometimes with the help of a horse-cart. The Champagne Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises is the symbol of a forgottem memory: the cultural heritage of an extraordinary era.

The Champagne Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises 2013 offers the taste of the Champagne region, which no longer exists: a limited production of 2,477 bottles, created by miraculously preserved vines, cultivated according to the tradition.

The 2014 vintage is the result of a very difficult year. Rainfall characterised the autumn season and continued through the winter until the end of February. After a wet and mild winter, two very dry and sunny months followed, which resulted in early budding at the beginning of April. Flowering took place on 10 June, after a month considered the sunniest in the last fifty years. The summer was characterised by thunderstorms and showers, particularly in August, which had not been so cold and wet for some time. Only the arrival of a mild September counterbalanced a catastrophic summer, leading to a perfect ripening of the vines with healthy grapes. The grapes are of excellent quality because the cold summer preserved their acidity, while the sunny month of September avoided the threat of pests, allowing the grapes to ripen perfectly. All the Maison Bollinger vineyards began harvesting on 15 September, with the exception of Chaudes Terres and Clos St Jacques, which started on 11 September. The 2014 harvest lasted only nine days, compared to two weeks in previous years.

Champagne Bollinger

In 1829 Jacques Bollinger, together with Athanase de Villermont, founded in Aÿ the Maison under his name. Thanks to the priviledge position of the vineyards and a deep quality moral, the Bollinger Maison has acquired a solid reputation at international level, thanks to the style and wine quality for its Champagnes. Today the family still runs the Maison Bollinger in order to maintain a high production level. In 1992 the family wrote down its Ethic & Quality Principles, lying down all methods followed by the family to produce Champagne. The vineyards of the Maison Bollinger extend over a surface of 160 hectares within the territory of Grands Crus and Premier Crus champenoise, covering up to 70% of the grape need, witha stable quality over time. The remaining 30% comes from selected grapes from other wine-growers in the Grand and Premier Cru territories as well. The Maison Bollinger only uses wines coming from the first pressing, carefully controlling the following steps. Bollinger style is based on Pinot Noir, especially from Aÿ, Bouzy and Verzenay. The typical features of these villages grant the wines richness, vinousity and roundness. Grand Crus and Premier Crus are part of the assemblage of Grande Année and for 80% in Special Cuvée, giving Bollinger wines their structure and complexity. The vins de réserve rest in corked Magnum bottles under a light froth, cru by cru, vine by vine, year by year. This unique methos in Champagne allows the Maison Bollinger to store its wines for a long time, also keeping their original freshness and character. The Maison Bollinger owns a real winehouse and this helps in the creation of Special Cuvée, obtained after a careful selection of cru, vine and year.