Bollinger B16 2016

From a relatively cool, mildew-pressured year that did not deliver sufficient fruit for Aÿ to serve as the principal component—and thus precluded the making of La Grande Année—Bollinger instead opted to release the 2016 B16. Disgorged in November 2024 with a dosage of four grams per liter, the wine unwinds in the glass with aromas of yellow apple, mirabelle plum, honeysuckle and bergamot mingled with freshly baked bread and a faint hint of passion fruit. Full-bodied and elegantly muscular, the palate offers a rich, sweet core of fruit, racy acids and an animating pinpoint mousse, concluding with a long, enveloping finish. Vinified entirely in barrels, it comprises 27% Chardonnay and 73% Pinot Noir—principally from Bouzy, Tauxières, Verzy and Verzenay—and will reward additional aging on cork. 2026-2044

Another limited-edition vintage release by Bollinger, this 2016 wine is super supple and blooming already upon release. Atypically for Bollinger, Bouzy from the south side of the Montagne de Reims is the dominant village with a 25% share. Of the 30% of Chardonnay complementing the Pinot Noir, Trépail leads the blend, lending exotic spiciness and sweet fruitiness to the appealing whole. Fermentation in oak gives a spicy signature to the lush, fruity nose of orchard fruit, yellow plum and orange blossom. This wine is on the elegance in its caressing silkiness and salty tang. In a quest of letting the terroir speak, Bollinger is restricting the dosage to 4g/l.

Lively and more floral than many a Bollinger champagne – almost transparent and filigree. The opposite of heavy with marked but not excessive acidity at this stage. Much is happening at the house of Bollinger under chef de cave Denis Bunner! B13 Brut preceded it.