Bollinger La Grande Annee Champagne 2007

*Throws down red carpet, puts a cigar in your mouth and takes you by the arm* Why hello! You look like you want to make some waves, or perhaps doing some serious wooing. Well step this way, cara mia, for this is the one you are looking for; its dazzling rose and gold ochre hue, its virtuoso performance of exotic spices, toast, rhubarb and stone fruit and its never ending, dazzlingly minerally finish will sweep that special someone so completely off their feet you'll have to catch them, serendipitously, in your arms. Oh, the romance...

The Bollinger champagne House has created prestigious champagnes with character, distinguished by their elegance and complexity, since 1829. These outstanding wines are the result of rigorous attention to detail and so impressed the Court of England that the House has been awarded the Royal Warrant since 1884.

Bollinger’s prestige Grande Anné Champagne is produced only when the harvest reaches a perfect balance: it is Bollinger’s version of an exceptional vintage and is declared around four times a decade.

The 2004 vintage is comprised of 66% Pinot Noir and 34% Chardonnay and the grapes are sourced from 16 crus: 88% from Grands Cru sites and 12% from Premiers Crus sites. The Champagne is aged entirely in barrels.

2004 was quite a delicate year in Champagne, with a relatively dry winter and spring but a cold, wet end to the summer. The grapes were picked during a fine Indian summer which meant they were in an excellent state of health. All the conditions were favourable to give their grapes the special qualities necessary for the very best vintages. The Champagne was cellar aged for over six years, which is more double the time required by the appellation for vintage Champagnes. The dosage was moderate, at around 7 to 8 grams per litre.

With delicate blush and old gold colours, its aromas of toasted bread and brandied fruit are testimony to the barrels it was aged in. It has notes of exotic spices, rhubarb and stone fruit, powerful yet remarkably soft bubbles and a sustained finish, as you would expect.