- Region
- Champagne
- Producer
- Bollinger
- Grape varieties
- 60% Pinot Noir / Spätburgunder
- 25% Chardonnay
- 15% Pinot Meunier
- Bottle size
- 37,5 cl
- Special characteristic
- Contains sulphites
Bollinger's 'Special Cuvée' is made exclusively from free-run juice. Some of the base wine is raised in oak, some of it in stainless steel. All the grand cru grapes and a proportion of the premier cru grapes used for the blend are vinified in oak, depending on the quality of the fruit. The Special Cuvée is more than just a non-vintage champagne; it is a blend of base wines from different vintages. These include harvest grapes, wines from previous vintages, and – typical Bollinger – a five to ten per cent proportion of reserve wine to ensure consistency of style from year to year. Bollinger affords its Special Cuvée at least three years of cellar ageing – much longer than the minimum maturation time stipulated by the appellation (15 months). The dosage is low to preserve the wine's aromatic balance. Every finished bottle is then kept back for least three months before release.
Made from premium-quality base wines, this champagne – the estate's 'calling card', so to speak – has the unmistakeable hallmark of a Bollinger.
Eighty per cent of Bollinger's grapes come from grands crus and premiers crus, of which as many as two thirds are estate-owned (Bollinger owns 164 hectares of vineyard in total). This is the secret behind the wine's consistent quality. The most important winegrowing villages from which the fruit is sourced: Aÿ, Tauxières, Verzenay and Louvois (for Pinot Noir); Le Mesnil sur Oger, Oger, Cuis and Grauvres (for Chardonnay).