1976 Bollinger R.D.

From the extremely dry year of 1976 when the harvest started on 1 September just like 2007. Apparently there was some scepticism about declaring this low-acid year a vintage. This bottle was disgorged in late 2020 so had a cork that sprang back to being about an inch wide in the main shaft. Apparently once the wine has scavenged all the oxygen in the bottle it will then enter a reductive phase and become more like the earlier-disgorged RD 1976. This was served blind and was obviously extremely mature. Very deep gold without that much mousse – and a cork that was extremely difficult to extract from the bottle neck. It smelt very savoury and of beeswax and age and (very) dried citrus peel. There was also some butteriness of flavour and texture about it, as though it were a very mature burgundy, probably white rather than red. It seemed so much older than the second sample of 1976 that had been disgorged way back in 2014 but with time in the glass the difference between the two bottles narrowed. But this is a gorgeous wine that is so mellow and intriguing. Notes of lilies and massive savour. A whisper of the oak it was made in? But still with energy on the finish. I don't suppose this is available commercially so my drink dates are entirely hypothetical. What a treat! (JR)

Picked 1 September. pH 3.01. One of the driest vintages ever. Disgorged 2007. 2.2 bars. Dosage 4 g/l. Much less mushroom than in the 1989. A little simpler than the 1989 but some candied fruits and TDN . Pungent, dried lemon and orange peel with a bit of bitterness. Throbs a bit on the end. Less obvious decay than the 1989. This is the profile they are looking for in RD, apparently. Quite a fine texture. Very distinctive and to me not that obviously Bollinger. (JR)

Disgorged 7 March 2011. Picked from 1 September. Hot, dry summer, the hottest since 1959. 65% Pinot Noir. 70% from Bollinger's own vineyards. Yields 10,359 kg/ha, initial potential alcohol 10.5+%, TA 6.7 g/l, pH 3.1, final TA 4.8g/l, final alcohol 12.2% . From the bottom of a bottle that had been open for a while. Deep gold. Hugely hedonistic nose. Very low acidity and losing fruit a little but it's a great wallow in the ripeness of the vintage. Lacking a little definition and fading a little on the finish but there is lots of pleasure here. (JR)