Highly recommended! A rich, smoky Champagne, with hints of marzipan and fennel seed accenting honeyed malt, bread dough, baked apple and gingersnap flavors. It's all focused by intense acidity, which meshes beautifully into the layers of flavor and refined texture, with a lingering finish. Drink now through 2021.

Outstanding! There is lovely complexity to the distinctly yeasty nose that combines high-toned green apple, pear, white flowers and gentle citrus nuances. The clean and sleek flavors are supported by a crisply firm but fine mousse where the finish is medium dry and lingering. It's not all that often that I suggest that readers cellar NV Brut but this is an example that absolutely cries out for it. I suspect that the texture will materially change for the better (i.e. become creamier) and better depth will be in the offing as well. Put it this way: this is a perfectly good Champagne right now but with 4 to 7 years of bottle age it could be first-rate and I would suggest buying it only if you're going to cellar it for at least a few years first. Note further that my rating assumes that the wine will be cellared.

Looking the part with a keenly struck trade-off between freshness and complexity, there's plenty of pinot-derived red fruit on the nose, as well as biscuity, mellow, sweet spices and fragrance. The palate takes a similar path, with some grilled cashews and citrus, too. Nicely crafted texture, with cherry and peach fruits. Drink now.

Bollinger's NV Brut Special Cuvée is a blend of 60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier, and the grapes are mostly (more than 85%) sourced in Grand Cru and Premier Cru villages. The majority of the Special Cuvée is reserve wines, part of which have been aged in magnums for five to 15 years. The disgorgement I tasted in May 2018 displays an intense golden-citrus color and has a refreshing, concentrated bouquet of citrus fruits, sweet cherries, ripe apples, white flowers, toast, walnuts, ripe apricots and peaches, with just a touch of brioche. On the palate, this is an intense, very elegant and refined cuvée with a very long, refreshing, intense, aromatic and salty finish. This is an excellent Champagne with a beautiful chalky texture in the aftertaste. - Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate #237, June 2018

Wine Advocate November, 2011 The NV Brut Special Cuvee is fabulous. Hints of pears, pastry crust and hazelnut lead to an expansive core of fruit. There is plenty of the signature Bollinger oxidative style in this rich, enveloping Champagne. Once again the Special Cuvee is one of the best Champagnes in its price range. This is Lot L114501. Disgorged April 26, 2011. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2015. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 23/12/2010 The NV Brut Special Cuvee is one of the finest and most consistently delicious entry-level Champagnes, as it is again this year. Brioche, hazelnuts and pears are some of the nuances the flow from this crystalline, pure Champagne. The Special Cuvee is the freshest wine in the Bollinger lineup, and shows only a touch of the warmer, oxidative notes that define the higher-end wines, but it is nevertheless an exceptionally fine, beautiful Champagne. Clean, mineral notes round out the finish. The Special Cuvee is 60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier, with the addition on 5-10% reserve wines. This is Lot L932901. Disgorged September 11, 2009. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2015. This is an exceptional set of new wines from Bollinger, one of Champagne’s historic houses. From top to bottom, there isn’t anything Bollinger isn’t doing well these days. I recently sat down with Chef de Caves Matthieu Kaufmann to taste through a range of the house’s 2009s. Readers will find notes on that tasting on www.erobertparker.com One of the distinguishing features of the Bollinger style is the aging of reserve wines in magnum under cork (not crown seal), a painstaking labor of love. Bollinger also has some of the most informative back labels among the region’s larger producers. It would be great to see Krug, Moet & Chandon, Roederer, Taittinger, Veuve Cliquot and a number of the region’s big houses follow suit. (90)

Wine Advocate November, 2011 The NV Brut Special Cuvee is fabulous. Hints of pears, pastry crust and hazelnut lead to an expansive core of fruit. There is plenty of the signature Bollinger oxidative style in this rich, enveloping Champagne. Once again the Special Cuvee is one of the best Champagnes in its price range. This is Lot L114501. Disgorged April 26, 2011. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2015. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 23/12/2010 The NV Brut Special Cuvee is one of the finest and most consistently delicious entry-level Champagnes, as it is again this year. Brioche, hazelnuts and pears are some of the nuances the flow from this crystalline, pure Champagne. The Special Cuvee is the freshest wine in the Bollinger lineup, and shows only a touch of the warmer, oxidative notes that define the higher-end wines, but it is nevertheless an exceptionally fine, beautiful Champagne. Clean, mineral notes round out the finish. The Special Cuvee is 60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier, with the addition on 5-10% reserve wines. This is Lot L932901. Disgorged September 11, 2009. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2015. This is an exceptional set of new wines from Bollinger, one of Champagne’s historic houses. From top to bottom, there isn’t anything Bollinger isn’t doing well these days. I recently sat down with Chef de Caves Matthieu Kaufmann to taste through a range of the house’s 2009s. Readers will find notes on that tasting on www.erobertparker.com One of the distinguishing features of the Bollinger style is the aging of reserve wines in magnum under cork (not crown seal), a painstaking labor of love. Bollinger also has some of the most informative back labels among the region’s larger producers. It would be great to see Krug, Moet & Chandon, Roederer, Taittinger, Veuve Cliquot and a number of the region’s big houses follow suit. (90)