Recently disgorged
In the 1950s, it was the vogue at Champagne houses to experiment with new bottle shapes. Madame Lily Bollinger expressed nothing but contempt for such narrow horizons - she was only interested in innovating on taste, on quality, on what was inside the bottle. Her legendary dinners, at the climax of which guests would be led down to the cellars to uncork and drink very old bottles of Bollinger, were the inspiration for what ultimately became the R.D. cuvee: an opportunity to experience a very long lees-aged Champagne in the glory of its recent disgorgement.
The process at Bollinger is interesting. As at most Champagne houses, Bollinger will assess the quality of the vintage and either earmark all the fruit for their non-vintage Special Cuvee, or plan to lees-age some for their vintage release La Grande Annee. When La Grande Annee is disgorged (usually after five years on its lees) a judgement will be made about the further potential of the Champagne; if it's really good, it will go back down for yet longer lees aging, and eventually be released as R.D. (récemment dégorgé, 'recently disgorged'). Now, the 2007 vintage was not widely considered a propitious year in Champagne. Problems with rain and rot meant a challenging harvest, and few Champagne houses would go on to release a vintage 2007. But Bollinger really looked after their key vineyards, and were rewarded with truly excellent fruit; they felt compelled to release La Grande Annee 2007. The bigger surprise was when they disgorged that, and saw how much unrealised potential the Champagne still had. Back much of it went for even longer lees aging, finally (14 years from vintage) released today as R.D. 2007.
Where R.D. usually comes in a powerful, muscular style, the 2007 is poised, lithe, elegant; there is an ample aromatic panoply that runs from bitter orange to baked apple to fresh pineapple. Spice follows (cinnamon), then the unusual, complex, savoury finish is a result of the extra aging the Champagne has enjoyed. Madame Bollinger understood something else. As a Champagne gains richness from lees aging, so it needs less dosage. Her original 1952 R.D. was released with a dosage of 6gm/l, radical in an era when the average was 20gm/l. These days, when 6gm/l is about what you expect from a quality NV Champagne, R.D. is dialled down to an extra brut 3gm/l. The brisk palate emphasizes the depth of flavour and gastronomic character of this most extraordinary Champagne. /NT
Offered subject to confirmation; available imminently
