Bollinger La Grande Année 2018 in Gift Box
La Grande Année is Bollinger's prestige cuvée - made only in years the house judges exceptional, and 2018 is the first of a run of warm vintages already being talked about as one of Champagne's great trilogies. This is Champagne at its most serious, in the house's own gift box.
What makes a Grande Année is craft most houses have long abandoned. It's fermented entirely in oak barrels, built around Pinot Noir from the great Montagne de Reims villages, then aged under cork for more than twice the time the appellation requires - and every bottle is riddled and disgorged by hand. The result is a Champagne of real depth and structure: ripe orchard and stone fruit, toast and nutty richness, all held by a fine, bright line of acidity.
Powerful, complex and built to last, it's a bottle for someone who knows their Champagne - or for an occasion that deserves the best.