BollingerBrutVintage2003

Champagne Bollinger owns an impressive 178 hectares of vineyards, of which 85% are in Grand Cru and Premier Cru villages. Their land is spread over seven main villages: Aÿ, Avenay, Louvois, Tauxières and Verzenay planted with Pinot Noir; Cuis with Chardonnay; and Champvoisy with Meunier. Bollinger are one of the few Houses to produce the majority of their own grapes for their blends. Pinot Noir represents 60% of the House’s vineyards and defines the House style: complex and powerful with remarkable structure. In 2012 Champagne Bollinger was certified High Environment Value (HEV) this certification rewards a number of environmental procedures implemented at the Maison.rrWeather: 2003 will remain forever engraved in the memory of the champenois as unique in every way. It started under heavy snow and very low temperatures until the very end of February. Without any perceivable transition, spring showed signs of precocity, a mild weather followed by sudden heat woke up the vines, giving birth to the first buds, especially in the grands crus areas. But the spectacular frosts of the night of April 11th destroyed a large number of them. New buds gradually appeared, generating extremely spread out flowering episodes. June saw extremely violent thunderstorms with hail, which destroyed more buds and flowers…summer was characterised by the heat have that everyone remembers all over Europe. The harvest was historically early (a record since 1822) and finished by August 31st at Bollinger. As our vineyards, essentially composed of grands and premier crus, were particularly struck by all the climactic accidents.rrBollinger wanted to celebrate this astonishing year in their own way by producing a very unique and non typical wine in the lineage of Bollinger. They have blended pinot noirs from Ay and Verzenay together with chardonnays from Cuis, the housesâ€?3 most historical vineyards, a trilogy for 2003. Unusally high pH of 3.25 perhaps not surprising with the intense heat of the early summer.rrTechnical Information:rVineyards: 95% Grand Cru, 5% Premier Cru | Pinot noir: Ay, Verzenay& Chardonnay: CuisrGrape Varieties: 63% Pinot Noir, 37% ChardonnayrLees Ageing: 3 yearsrDisgorged: Spring 2007rDosage: 7 g/lrProduction: 50,000 BottlesrDrink: Now to 5 years +rrTasting Note:Beautiful freshness, in balance between the notes of black spices, enhanced by aging in old wood, yellow fruit, peach hazel,elegant red citrus & tarot orange. On the palate,a powerful and mineral wine, in balance with the sweetness of a Sicilian lemon cake.