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Bollinger have just released their 2012 vintage La Grande Année. After a slew of magisterial 2008 releases last year, the 2012 is very welcome. Approachable, affordable and (rather helpfully!) available, the 2012 is quite different in style to the '08 and is highly-rated.
Champagne expert Richard Juhlin scores this latest release 95 points, with a lyrical, if rather excitable tasting note, describing the mousse as "almost panting in its resilient youthfulness". With the '08 needing several years more to develop, if you would like to enjoy La Grande Année anytime between now and the middle of this decade, you should add the 2012 to your cellar.
If you have not held a bottle of 'LGA' in the last year, you may notice the shape of the '1846 bottle'. Used for Bollinger Special Cuvée since 2012, and now for the vintage, it is based on a bottle from 1846 found in their cellars. The curved shape is designed to replicate the conditions in a magnum, the narrower neck and wider base slowing down oxygen exchange, allowing for more complex ageing. All the evidence and our own experience shows that champagne does taste better from magnum, so we think this is a promising idea.
Fermented in small old oak barrels and riddled and disgorged by hand, LGA is still made using traditional techniques. In 2012 the weather threw every possible challenge at the vines, drastically reducing the size of the crop. The growers expected an 'annus horribilis' right up until August, when conditions became perfect. The combination of low yields and perfect ripening at the end of the season resulted in a full, fresh, expressive vintage of La Grande Année.
The blend in 2012 is 65% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, assembled from 21 crus, mainly Aÿ and Verzenay for the Pinot Noir and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oiry for the Chardonnay.
Available March 2020, offered in bond. Large formats will be released at a later date.
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