Wonderfully fruit forward intense nose with smoky toasty aromas. The flavours are alive with candied citrus peel, hazelnut, almond and soft spices. It has a texture like pure silk with great power from the dominance of Pinot Noir and with superb freshness and a mineral mouthwatering long finish. Truly delicious to drink now but has all the signs to mature beautifully over the next decade.

– Bordeaux Index Fine Wines & Spirits Merchant

Bollinger's 2004 Brut La Grand Année is a beautiful wine with a lot of vintage character, but the style is a bit less oxidative than Bollinger fans are likely to expect. Pears, hazelnuts, spices and crushed rocks all flow through to the tense, vibrant finish. It will be interesting to see if the 2004 puts on weight in the bottle, as so many wines from this vintage have. Today, it is bright, linear and quite pretty. Green apples, pears and flowers all add lift on the close.

– vinous.com, May 2013

Tasted from magnum. Over the 75cl version, the magnum of 2004 Grande Année shows a beautiful, resinous lift and sense of detail; miso savour leads into blackberry, anise and white pepper, rich with sourdough and cooked lemons and turning into its old age with a lick of dried mushroom. This holds all its extravagant complexity together with fine, smooth-textured harmony and a true-to-type sense of Bollinger vinosity.

(disgorged January, 2013): Light, bright gold. Powerful orchard and pit fruit aromas are complemented by smoky lees, iodine, chamomile and buttered toast. At once fleshy and energetic, offering deeply pitched poached pear, peach pit and brioche flavors and a suave floral element. Finishes smoky and very long, with mounting spiciness and lingering floral and vanilla notes.

The 2004 Grande Année Brut was disgorged in November 2013 and offers a clear, very refined, and complex though still closed bouquet with fruity aromas of fresh and stewed apples, yellow grapefruit, kaki, walnuts, tobacco, herbal tea, nougat and spicy flavors; everything is discreet here, subtle, perfectly melted together and smoky, very smoky. On the palate, this Pinot Noir/Chardonnay blend wine is highly complex and elegant, firmly structured and quite long. This is an excellent Champagne.

Quality 959 | Brand 957 | Economics 833 |

buzz brand
Quality: Above the average quality score of its peer group for the 2004 vintage, 835 Brand: Strong restaurant presence, featuring on 33 of the world's top wine lists, including First Floor Economics: Above its peer group average price of £63 for the 2004 vintage Production:

- www.wine-lister.com, June 2017

Magnum. Disgorged in October 2012. Dosage 7 g/l. Tasted blind. Racy, lively and exciting. (JR)