Deciphering Pinot Noir
PN TX17 may sound like a robot from Star Wars, but it’s not; it’s a champagne in cipher. PN is Pinot Noir. TX is Tauxières, the village in the Montagne de Reims that is the main source of the fruit. 2017 is the base vintage, supported by reserve wines. It is the latest iteration in Bollinger’s exploration of Pinot Noir - and a fabulous Blanc de Noirs cuvee.
Bollinger like to say that Pinot Noir is the pillar of their style. Everything in their range is at least 60% Pinot Noir, even Special Cuvee (the classic NV release). That accounts for the generous fleshiness and fruitiness, set against Chardonnay’s structure and strictness, which has always made Special Cuvee so appealing. Champagne has always been a region of small growers working alongside big houses, and all the big houses depend to some extent on bought-in fruit; but Bollinger also owns some fabulous Pinot Noir vineyards.
PN TX17 is a lovely success, aromatically complex, full of energy, persistent. Tauxières is a village where the Pinot Noir tends towards the fine and complex. 2017 was a challenging vintage, and the best 2017 fruit has a tense linearity; the addition of reserve wines has brought breadth and aromatic intensity. Dosage is low, at 4gm/litre, so it could be listed as extra brut. /NT
Offered subject to remaining unsold; available imminently
