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bollinger, vieilles vignes francaises 2008
VINOUS
98
WINE ADVOCATE
100

2008 bollinger, vieilles vignes francaises

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Why We're Buying

Vieilles Vignes Françaises is Bollinger's unmatched super-luxurious cuvée. It comes from an ultra-limited selection of grapes and yields ultra-rich flavors. According to Wine-Searcher, it's the second most expensive pinot noir-dominant Champagne behind Krug Clos d'Ambonnay Blanc de Noirs Brut.

Critics Scores

VINOUS
98

Vinous

The 2008 Blanc de Noirs Vieilles Vignes Françaises is a total thrill to taste. Bright and finely sculpted, the VVF expresses all of the natural tension of the year in grand style. One moment it is the aromatics that are most captivating, then in another moment it is the wine's total balance that makes the strongest impression. Constantly changing in the glass, the 2008 VVF is one of those rare Champagnes than can hold the taster's attention for hours, or at least until the bottling is finished. Bollinger's tiny production Blanc de Noirs from ungrafted vines in two tiny plots totaling 0.36 hectares is truly mesmerizing in 2008. I can't wait to taste it next to some of the other iconic vintages. Harvest took place on September 18 and the wine was vinified entirely in new oak. Dosage is 6 grams per liter.

WINE ADVOCATE
100

Wine Advocate

Disgorged in September 2020 with four grams per liter dosage Bollinger's 2008 Blanc de Noirs Vieilles Vignes Françaises is one of the monumental wines of this great vintage. Soaring from the glass with a generous honeyed bouquet of pear orange rind dried fruits mocha and toasted bread it's full-bodied textural and enveloping with huge concentration racy acids and a pillowy mousse. Vinous rich and sumptuous it concludes with an immensely long resonant finish. Bollinger waited until the grapes of these ungrafted vines attained 11 potential alcohol before harvesting and they have produced the most powerful wine of the vintage?as well as one of the most profound. My recent visit to Champagne Bollinger focused on a mini-vertical of the house's R. D. soon to be chronicled in a separate report but I also took the opportunity to look at new releases. One wine that I was quite unprepared for was the magical 2008 Vieilles Vignes Françaises: one of the very finest wines produced in this important vintage and unquestionably the most powerful and dramatic Champagne of the year. More attainable for mortals however Bollinger's Special Cuvée is on fine form these days reflecting efforts to ensure that it contains the maximum of wood-aged vins clairs as well as farming that stands out as some of the best in the region?something that will safeguard this bottling's status as a benchmark in the years to come.