"Already gratifying yet clearly built for graceful evolution...95-97 points” - Essi Avellan MW
Champagne Bollinger have just released their 2018 "La Grande Année" at £470 per six bottles in bond, with 95-97 points from champagne expert Essi Avellan MW.
As we have said before, La Grande Année (or 'LGA' for short, in the trade) is a match for most prestige cuvée champagnes, but at a vintage champagne price. The success of Bollinger's 'Special Cuvée' Brut non-vintage kept LGA flying below the radar for many years, ensuring it continues to offer amazing value.
Bollinger always describes LGA as a wine first and foremost, usually serving it at lunch with turbot or even venison, to show off its power and general vinous qualities. If you enjoy champagne primarily as an aperitif, serving it as the main attraction can be an eye-opening experience and change the way you view this most wonderful of drinks forever.
The 2018 vintage is a blend of 66% Pinot Noir and 34% Chardonnay from 19 crus, with the fruit coming exclusively from Grand Crus and Premier Crus; predominantly Aÿ and Verzenay for the Pinot Noir, Chouilly and Avize for the Chardonnay. Vinification was in 100% small old oak barrels, aged under natural cork for 7 years on its lees and riddled and disgorged by hand.
The vintage was marked by an early and large harvest (the first grapes were picked by 23rd of August). A late budburst followed by mild spring weather gave way to a hot, dry summer, resulting in a harvest in perfect sanitary condition. The chalk soils of Bollinger’s Grands and Premiers Crus vineyards regulated conditions, producing particularly excellent, concentrated and perfectly ripe Pinot noir.
Champagne writer Richard Juhlin describes the 2018 as having "Enormous expectant energy and an underlying well-hidden power that will be firing on all cylinders after 2035. A real knockout fist, treacherously draped in silk gloves".
Email us today to secure this excellent new release for your cellar.
Offered in bond, available April 2026.
| SPARKLING | 2018 | Bollinger - La Grande Année | 75cl | £470 per case of 6 | Bollinger La Grande Année 2018 / / 75cl £470 per case of 6 |
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Tasting Notes“If 2015 was like a walk in the forest in autumn, 2018 is spring-winter just when nature is starting to wake up. Enormous expectant energy and an underlying well-hidden power that will be firing on all cylinders after 2035. A real knockout fist treacherously draped in silk gloves. Cold, fresh and sparkling notes of citrus and Granny Smith apples dance beautifully together with the more classic Bollinger notes of brioche and gunpowder-smoky minerality. Right now, there are more green apples here than red apples, more raspberries than peaches, more acacia and yellow roses than honeysuckle, more bitter almonds than hazelnuts, more cinnamon than tar, more shiitake mushrooms than cep, more butterscotch than chocolate, more light birch wood than heavy sauna notes. We are therefore dealing with a classic and extremely complex Bollinger with a bright energy. It is easy to be tempted to believe that the wine is lighter than it is because the fresh elements camouflage the strength. The oak is not so pronounced aromatically, but its effect is still clear through the creamy and velvety palate that the wine conveys. Even the biscuity complexity that attracts our senses has part of its origin from the micro-oxidation via the oxygen exchange through the fibers of the small oak barrels. Many have made brilliant champagnes in 2018, but most are still shy and unredeemed and require long aging. This is not the case with Bollinger La Grande Annee. Here you can be part of a wonderful experience right away, although I personally will wait many years before I open my own bottles when the great depth has arrived. 94-96 points.” Richard Juhlin------“In the generous, precocious 2018 season, Bollinger chose to anchor La Grande Année in a resolutely classical register. Particularly satisfied with the authority of their Pinot Noir, the backbone is drawn from Aÿ, Verzenay and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. The Chardonnays come principally from Avize, Chouilly and Cuis, but in total, 19 grands and premiers crus contribute to the assemblage. The bouquet is immediately expressive, unfolding with ripe orchard fruit, yellow apple and poached pear, layered with Mirabelle plum, dried meadow flowers and a touch of sun-warmed straw. Aeration reveals subtle hints of light pastry and spice. On the palate, the texture is broad and finely chiselled, carried by a persistent salinity. The phenolic maturity of the warm vintage lends structure, framing the lush fruit. Despite its early approachability, there is no heaviness; instead, the wine combines suppleness with vibrancy, finishing long and seamless. Already gratifying yet clearly built for graceful evolution. 95 points with potential for 97. 95-97 points.” Essi Avellan MW |
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