2004 Bollinger RD (disgorged 21/11/18)

It is only produced in the very best vintages, such as the blessed, warm 2004, and comes only from grand and premier cru sites. R.D. (Recemment Degorge, or Recently Disgorged) is a vintage of La Grande Annee (vintage Bollinger) kept back for especially long lees aging; Bollinger is the only champagne house to regularly release such a long lees-aged wine.

Sumptuously rich, intensely aromatic, thirteen years of lees-aging has brought the 2004 R.D. a deep expressiveness; it is complex, spiced, honeyed (and Extra Brut). This isn’t the first time it has hit the market – in order to capture the champagne at its very best, it has been disgorged in stages. This is the final disgorgement (November 2018) in the pomp of its aromatic best – catch it while you can. (NT 25/09/19)