Disgorged in March 2023 with six grams per liter dosage, Bollinger's 2012 Blanc de Noirs Vieilles Vignes Françaises is a powerful, multidimensional Champagne that pushes the house's vinous, Pinot Noir-driven style to the furthest. Offering up rich aromas of orange rind, mandarin oil, grilled peaches, dried fruits and pear mingled with notions of nutmeg, beeswax, smoke and buttered toast, it's full-bodied, broad and layered, with a deep, enveloping core endowed with extraordinary texture and concentration, its broad attack and mid-palate segueing into a long, resonant finish. If the 2013 vintage tended to tame some of the Vieilles Vignes Françaises's exuberance, the 2012 vintage leaves this cuvée untrammeled.

A real rarity made from 100% very densely planted Pinot Noir vines, mostly still ungrafted, grown on a total of just 0.31 ha on two parcels chosen for their geology and perfect exposure. Close to Maison Bollinger, the surrounding walls of the Clos Saint-Jacques and Clos Chaudes-Terres at the top of the village of Aÿ have so far afforded some protection from phylloxera but probably won't forever. Yields have been plummeting and only about 750 bottles were made in 2012. 100% fermented in oak. Riddled and disgorged by hand. Charles-Armand de Belenet, host of a lunch in London, stressed how unique it was and how lucky we were to be served this wine by recounting that even when he joined the house as managing director in 2017 he was told it was too precious to give him a taste. Again that broad, savoury, mushroomy Bollinger nose but with extra richness, presumably because of the concentration of the fruit, but it manages to be both rich and fresh. Intense flavours of crystallised fruits. Extremely long and quite able to stand up to all sorts of food, I would imagine. In this instance it was served with (Mauro Colagreco of the new Raffles Hotel's) Jerusalem artichoke (brave!), monkfish and hazelnuts main course. (JR)