Bollinger PN VZ 15

• Now at its peak drinking window
• Nutty Pinot Noir aromas, fine perlage

The PNVZ 15 smells of figs, cherries, elderberry, toast and pears. On the palate, we taste apricot, peach, hazelnut and yuzu. It is really enjoyable now, but promises even more in the future.

Bollinger's programme is conservative. New cuvées that are not just one-off editions are as rare as solar eclipses, as Richard Juhlin writes. With PN, Bollinger is aiming for a modern style. No oxidative ageing, some new wood, a more intense effervescence than RD and Grande Annee. It is certainly also an attempt to close the price gap between Special Cuvée and Grande Annee. Because, let's face it, Grande Annee has unfortunately become significantly more expensive. PN stands for Pinot Noir. VZ stands for the Grand Cru terroir Verzenay in the northern Montagne de Reims.

There have been a few vintage champagnes in the past that were produced exclusively from this fine terroir. However, Bollinger is usually associated with the warmer location of Ay, where the company's headquarters are also located. The PN VZ is not a pure Verzenay champagne. Although it dominates the cuvée, grapes from Ay, Tauxieres and Bouzy are also used. The top Bollinger cuvées were blended with wines from the Ay area, with Bouzy and Louvois also being used. As expected, the 2015 vintage is the base vintage, but 50 per cent of it consists of wines from the 2009 vintage, which were aged in magnums and then blended with the 2015 vintage. Future editions will focus on other terroirs. It is noticeable that the wine for Bollinger Prestige Champagne was not aged on the lees for as long. Nevertheless, it displays the typical rich, nutty Bollinger aromas.

Richard Juhlin champagneclub.com 95 The presentation is brilliant and is reminiscent of the house's legendary blanc de noirs Bollinger ’Vieilles Vignes Françaises’….. Verzenay is often the chalky and mineral-rich backbone of Bollinger's vintage build-up. The wine is vibrantly fresh, mineral-driven and extremely pure. There is a clarity and sharpness that is outstanding, where gunpowder notes and aroma of grilled meat develop as the glass warms up slightly. I love this wine as it is a perfect creation from one of the most important villages in the whole of Champagne dominated by the aforementioned minerality, but also with notes of violet and red grapefruit so typical of Verzenay of the highest class. On aeration the scent develops more and more notes of pears, figs and freshly baked baguette and the taste develops towards peach and apricot jam. Personally, though, I will wait as long as I can before opening my own bottles to get the increasing depth of caramel and grilled hazelnut flavour that only time in the cellar can provide.

750 mL

12.5

Champagne

Pinot noir

Sulphites

• Brut

France

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