Bollinger La Grande Annee 2008

Richard Juhlin calls the Bollinger La Grande Annee 2008 a "regal and heroic Bollinger" and alludes to its great concentration, full body and fabulous acid structure for decades of ageing. Even with this Prestige Cuvee, this has not been seen in this perfection for over 30 years. After having given drinking pleasure for some time, but is very closed now. As usual with Bollinger, their best champagne is released to champagne fans in two releases: First as Grande Annee early in 2019 and then in March 2023 as RD with longer yeast storage.

Tasted in April 2021, the nose shows prominent toasted notes of hazelnuts. Freshly opened, the palate is rather firm and marked by the strong acidity and slightly nutty notes, but without showing pronounced oxidation. After six hours of aeration, the first half of the palate has an exotic, lush fruit with slightly sweet caramel notes, which abruptly changes to a sparse, lean, mineral, acidic palate in the second half.

99 Jebdunnuck.com The 2008 La Grande Année is another brilliant 2008 that delivers the goods. Straight-up awesome notes of stone fruits, white flowers, honeysuckle, and an incredible, liquid rock-like minerality all emerge from the glass, and it develops more nuance, spice, toasted bread, and an almost Alsatian Riesling-like petrol character over the course of the evening. It's a full-bodied, rich, powerful Champagne, yet like the top 2008s, it has brilliant precision, purity, and focus. It's unquestionably one of the finest versions of this cuvée ever produced, although it needs another 4-5 years of bottle age to hit prime time. It should keep for 3-4 decades. Bravo!

97+ William Kelley robertparker.com Bollinger's 2008 La Grande Année is superb, wafting from the glass with aromas of crisp orchard fruit, ripe lemons, honeycomb, warm biscuits, dried white flowers and a delicate top note of walnuts and fino sherry. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, broad and vinous, with a beautifully refined mousse, superb concentration at the tightly wound core, incisive acids and a supremely elegant intermingling of Bollinger's oxidative stylistic signatures with fresh, vibrant fruit. The finish is long, precise and chalky. This is a Grande Année built for the cellar—the real excitement will come with a bit more bottle age—but this is already a thrilling Champagne in the making. Finished with eight grams per liter dosage, it was disgorged by hand in July 2018. This is also the first vintage of Grande Année to be bottled in Bollinger's new narrower-necked 1846 bottle, which should make for a slower evolving wine.

97 Antonio Galloni vinous.com Bollinger's 2008 Grande Annee is rich, ample and full bodied....

750 mL

12.5

Champagne

Pinot Noir & Chardonnay

Sulphites

• Dry

France

Champagne Bollinger, 16 Rue Jules Lobet, 51160 Ay, France