Personal advice
Layer upon layer, this exceptional champagne impresses with creamy, ripe fruit enjoyment, perfectly carried by an integrated acid structure. Unlike the rather austere and closed R.D. 2002, this Grande Année already shows considerable charm and accessibility today — while still possessing enormous future potential.
Classic Bollinger oxidative barrel-ageing aromas are present: ripe apple, walnut, lemon zest, a touch of yellow plum and mint — faintly reminiscent of an elegant Ramonet Chardonnay. The palate is full, round, without any edges. The acidity is seamlessly integrated. Instead of dominant nutty notes, one finds very subtle roasted almonds. This champagne delivers extremely high drinking pleasure right now — as long as one is not specifically waiting for the deeply oxidative-nutty Bollinger signature that will only fully emerge after several more years of serious cellaring.
Compared directly, it currently feels at least 10 years younger than the 2004 and 2005 Grande Année — a beautifully mature yet still very long-lived example.
A good growing season start without significant frost damage led to an early, trouble-free flowering. The summer was sunny and warm with sufficient rainfall — ideal conditions for even development. In the weeks before harvest, dry and warm weather concentrated the berries, shrinking them and producing very high sugar levels.
While Chardonnays from the most famous Côte des Blancs sites sometimes turned a little ripe and opulent, 2002 was an outstanding year for Pinot Noir. At Bollinger, Chardonnays from cooler sites (notably Grauves) provide the perfect acid and structural balance — the foundation for one of the most balanced, long-lived and successful Grande Année of the last decades.
Drinking window: now until approximately 2040–2045+ (with excellent storage)
A glance at the Alfavin cellar
A glance at the Alfavin cellar
A glance at the Alfavin Cellar