Richard Juhlin tasted 2016 Bollinger ’Vieilles Vignes Françaises’ as the first wine writer in the world. [read the full champagne story]
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Vieilles Vignes Françaises: preserving a gem
A total of 31 ares of pinot noir, split over 2 parcels chosen for their geology and perfect exposure. Close to Maison Bollinger, the surrounding walls of the Clos Saint-Jacques and Clos Chaudes-Terres appear to protect the vines from the invasion of phylloxera.
The Vieilles Vignes Françaises are aptly named. The two clos protect some of the few remaining ungrafted French vines still farmed. Tucked away at the top of the village of Aÿ in Champagne, these historic parcels carry the soul and flavour of eternal Champagne. This is why Bollinger has chosen to continue making this champagne in the purest tradition of the Champagne region.
‘Those who have the privilege to taste Vieilles Vignes Françaises rediscover the flavour of the first champagnes. It is an authentic taste that Bollinger has enhanced since 1969, the first vintage of this cuvée.’
Charles-Armand de Belenet, Managing Director of Champagne Bollinger
2016 Bollinger ’Vieilles Vignes Françaises’
98(97)p
100PN
TASTIN G NOTE Champagne Club by Richard Juhlin – I know, of course, that I will be in for a grand experience every time I encounter a new vintage of ungrafted Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises from the two small vineyards of Chaudes Terres and Clos St Jacques, outside Bollinger’s legendary house in Aÿ. Yet I was surprised that the wine was so powerful from such a light vintage as 2016.
In the glass next to me was the sister wine 2015 Bollinger La Côte aux Enfants which in 2014 was almost as powerful as the VVF when Björnstierne and I tasted them at Old Man Storr in Scotland. Therefore, it was very surprising that the warm year of 2015 resulted in the lightest and most sublimely fine-tuned La Côte aux Enfants to date and that the 2016 VVF rumbled forward with a completely different muscularity and concentration.
Denis Bunner asked me which vintage of VVF this colossal 2016 was most similar to when newly launched. After a few minutes of searching in my memory bank, I came to the conclusion that the 1985 VVF behaved in a very similar way. What I remember about that wine was that it was as flamboyant and honey-saturated d’Yquem-like as the 2016, but that it quickly went into an unusually long hibernation and closed like a clam and picked up speed somewhere around the 20-year mark. We’ll see if this wine follows the same pattern and let’s hope that the meager 1,736 bottles are not drunk during the sleeping beauty’s sleep.
Now newly launched, the wine is fantastic with a deep sparkling golden color. In the aroma, I am met by a heavy orchestra with brass and drums. Honeysuckle, honey, milk chocolate, oak, caramel, nougat, blackberry, ripe yellow peach, apricot and Moroccan leather constitute the most important components of the aromatic symphony. The incredibly concentrated taste plays on exactly the same theme, but has also been gifted with a new element of fig, sweet lemon pie and exotic fruits that I did not find in the fragrance package. In the aftertaste, the nougat note transitions to pure hazelnut from Piedmont. Another giant is born to enrich the ultimate wine world elite. The gratitude I feel is boundless and becomes almost even greater when you think that the phylloxera could attack the two small plots of land in Aÿ at any time.
‘So we never know if the latest vintage will be the last!’
Champagne Club by Richard Juhlin
