Wine News Archive

Champagne Bollinger from Herve Pennequin - issued January 2006 from TASTEDONLINE

 

Bollinger is one of my favorite Champagne Houses, since a friend of mine, Didier Laurent, helped me to understand it better, back in 1990, when I was working in Champagne as a sommelier. On January 13th, 2006, my friends and I found a little time between our marathon Champagne tastings and the perspective of a fine dinner at the “Assiette Champenoise”.

We were staying at the “Hotel Casteljeanson” ANTHONY VERIFIE NOM EXACT, in Ay and decided to taste MORE Champagne. Why not, I ask you ? We requested a visit to Champagne Bollinger. After a warm, and informal, welcome by Christian Dennis, we were lead directly to the back of the offices, in the “Chaudes Terres” vineyard. I would like to share with you some, not so widely known, facts about Bollinger. Bollinger is one of the last family - owned Champagne Houses in its category. It is also the last Champagne House to employ a full time cooper. Furthermore, Bollinger is the only Champagne House to keep all their reserve wine, from the different vineyards, in magnums with a cork. Champagne Bollinger has the only pre-Phylloxera vineyard in Champagne, deserving of such recognition, and this is what I wish to inform you about.

Most of my friends know, by now, that I love great wines. I am not a label drinker, but my passion as a professional sommelier tempts me to try everything that is made from the grape. However, when I first had the privilege to taste the “Vieilles Vignes Françaises”, with Didier Laurent, I experienced a deep and humble feeling, facing a wine with such distinction.

But what is the “Vieilles Vignes Françaises”?

 

Until the end of the 19th Century, the French vineyards were still planted and cultivated “en foule” (aka “provinage”, aka “marcottage”), a system allowing for the self-regeneration of the plants by pushing a young branch into the soil and thus propagating a new vine. Since Phylloxera attacked the vineyards and the plants, the only solution has been to graft French vines onto American rootstocks. This method virtually excluded the use of the self-generating system, which does not graft onto an exterior rootstock.

 

Champagne Bollinger owns small plots of non – grafted vines, from which the “Vieilles Vignes Françaises” cuvee is made.

 

The cuvee was started, in 1969, when an English friend and great wine writer, Cyril Ray, came to visit Miss Bollinger. He was so impressed by the quality and uniqueness of the wine made from these plots, that he convinced her to bottled a special cuvee of the wine.

 

Until 2004, the Champagne “Vieilles Vignes Françaises” cuvee was made from 3 parcels : the “Chaudes Terres” (0.6 acres); the “Clos St Jacques” (0.5 acres); and the “Croix Rouge” (0.3 acres), all in Bouzy and all inexplicably untouched by Phylloxera. and is no longer part of the blend now. All three parcels are “miraculously” Phylloxera free.

 

The fact is that Phylloxera does not flourish in sandy soil, nor on high lying, very windy areas, in cool altitude. The only unsolvable mystery remains in that, here in this specific Champagne vineyard, conditions and the soil are essentially similar to that of the rest of the Champagne region. So there is no real or logical explanation as to why those plots of vineyards have survived in this particular area.

 

Only 2,500 to 3,000 bottles of the “Vieilles Vignes Françaises” are produced annually and then only in the greatest years.

 

These vineyards are planted uniquely with Pinot Noir. A couple of years are needed for the root to undergo its transformation and become a new vine, in soil which is quite often oxygenated. When you look at the vineyard, it resembles tiny mounds of so many small hills from where the vines will emerge. The vineyard does not appear either well managed or well controlled, it seems relatively crowded and uneven.

 

This makes the mechanization of these vineyards impossible and increases the labor, which in turn augments the production cost by 250 – 300%, with a yield of at least 35% less than a drastically monitored and selective modern vineyard.

 

The wine ferments in small 225 liters oak barrels of at least 4 years of use, to avoid the wood flavors from overwhelming the natural, fine flavors of the Pinot Noir from these non-grafted vines. Consequently, the wine ages for a minimum of 5 years in the cellars, on their lees, under cork pressure, prior to disgorgement. You can imagine how exceptional the wine can taste, not only because of the tremendous quality of the wine, but also because of the memories provoked by tasting a wine made through traditional methods that do not exist nowadays.

 

I have been very fortunate to taste a few vintages of the “Vieilles Vignes Françaises” and they all show a gold color with the slightest hint of a tinge of color – in fact, a mere shade (from the Pinot Noir skin), the bubbles are so fine, regular with a “cordon”, ring that lingers forever in your glass. The extraction of aromas, reminiscent of spices, black teas, toast breads, black fruits, and truffle is so long and so complex that it inevitably marks ones memory. The palate develops and shows another expression, which is tremendously long lasting, rich, concentrated with intense flavors and a wonderful touch of those bubbles, popping with elegance and power at the same time. The duration of the persistence is such that ones senses continue to tingle well after finishing the sip.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, if you have not experienced the “Vieilles Vignes Françaises”, please try, if only once… Follow my advice, start by enjoying the “Special Cuvee Brut”, then the “Grande Année”, before moving on to taste the “R.D.” (Aka “Recently Disgorged”), in order to really appreciate what Bollinger is capable of producing. Then, when the time comes to discover the “Vieilles Vignes Françaises”, you will truly appreciate the beauty in its perfection.

 

Hervé Pennequin

 

 

 

Report - février 20th, 2008 

France has exported for 9,34 billions wines and spirits in 2007 which have increased to 6,9% from 2006. This is a new record!

Who says that wine from third world will kill french wine??? Not yet!  

Mr Philippe Castéja, President of Export Federation of wine and spirit  (FEVS) precise: "this represents equivalent of 180 Airbus airplanes or 400 AGV-TGV fastest french train of the 4th generation".
This is the second largest net excedent (+8,2 billions euros) french export business behind Airbus industry and Dassault Electronic systems.

The french wines are selling very well outsite France with an increase of +2,6% in volume liters and +7,1% in value for 4,16 billions euros. Champagnes are doing better (+10,4% in value and 2,36 billions euros) as well as Cognac (+11,9% in value for 1,68 billions euros).

Who buy french wine? Americans first but 3% down due to the low value of US dollars v.s. Euro. Then come the British, German, Belge and Russians who have big import increase in 2007.
Asia have +15,3%, China a spectacular increase (+145,6%) which are positionned on 8th rang.

After his father's death in 1970, Daniel found himself running the family's small supermarket chain. Within 20 years, he had transformed it into the tenth largest mass distribution company in France.At the same time, he launched and developed a chain of sporting goods shops - Go Sport - in France, Belgium, Spain, and California .

He met his wife Florence while on the ski team in 1965. She worked with him managing Genty and Go Sport for ten years before launching her own advertising firm, later becoming Vice President of McCann Europe in 1985. In 1990, Daniel and Florence sold all their business interests to buy Chגteau Smith Haut Lafitte. After two years of massive renovations of both the winery buildings and the 18th century manor house, they moved into the chגteau.

They live there all year round in order to devote themselves to their life's work – making great red and white wines at Smith Haut Lafitte.

The estate is located in a single block on a gravelly rise; 55 of the 72 hectares are planted with vines. The soil, consisting of gravel dating from the Gunz (or Nebraskan glacial) period, has two unique features.
The first is superb natural drainage which forces the vine roots to sink more than six metres into the soil to seek nourishment in the form of water and mineral salts. The second is the "mirror effect", of the topsoil, whose pebbles reflect the sun's rays, helping the grapes to ripen beautifully.

The noble Bosq family started growing grapes here as early as 1365. The property was purchased in the 18th century by Scotsman George Smith, who gave the estate its present name. He also built the manor house and exported his – by now famous – wine to England on his own ships.
Monsieur Duffour-Dubergier, Mayor of Bordeaux and an enthusiastic winegrower, inherited Chגteau Smith Haut Lafitte from his mother in 1842 and brought the wine up to great growth status.

Impressed by Smith Haut Lafitte's excellent quality, the Louis Eschenauer company distributed the wine all over the world as of the early 20th century, deciding to buy the estate in 1958. Since the Eschenaueur period came to an end, a great deal of money has been invested in the estate, notably in the construction of a superb underground cellar holding over 2,000 barrels.

In 1990, Daniel Cathiard fell in love with the property and joined the list of prestigious owners, firmly intending to further enhance Smith Haut Lafitte's tradition of excellence. He combined the most modern winemaking techniques and age-old traditional methods: organic compost, return to small wooden vats, ageing on the lees in barrel, etc.

Famous around the world for its wonderfully elegant red wine and the sophisticated bouquet of its white, Smith Haut Lafitte undoubtedly deserves the special care that is lavished on it.

The Cathiard family abandoned mechanical harvesting in favour of handpicking when they bought the estate. To avoid oxidisation, the freshly-picked bunches of grapes are put onto small 20-25 kg trays. Specially designed ergonomic hods hold these trays until such time as they are taken to the trailer. This system of ergonomic hods developed by Daniel Cathiard is based on a type used by sherpas in the Himalayas. It enables full hods to be exchanged with empty ones upon arrival at the trailer without crushing the grapes before they reach the cellar. While the bunches are being handpicked, an initial sorting takes place to ensure that only the ripest, healthiest grapes are used, as befits a great wine. A second manual sorting is done after destemming on a sorting table downstream from the destemmer. This eliminates any remaining vegetable matter overlooked in the previous sorting.

WHITE WINES

Once the grapes are pressed, the must is put into small stainless steel settling vats. There is one vat per vineyard plot in order to retain the specific qualities of each plot until the final blend is made. The temperature is lowered to 8°C during settling, which takes 24-48 hours.
Alcoholic fermentation takes place in barrel after settling.
The wine is then aged in oak (50% of the barrels have been used for one previous vintage) on the lees for 10-12 months. The barrels are regularly topped up and stirred with a stick (bגtonnage).
The new barrels add toasty, vanilla hints, which integrate perfectly with the wine. Only the greatest wines can accept a large amount of new oak. A fine wine will always dominate the taste of oak, rather than the reverse.

Chגteau Smith Haut Lafitte has its own cooperage, which is where we will end the tour.

RED WINES

The eighteen 110-hectolitre French oak vats purchased for maceration in 1998 proved to be very efficient. Subsequently, all the stainless steel vats were replaced with new 80-hectolitre truncated cone-shaped wooden vats in 2000. Alcoholic fermentation takes place at 28-32°C thanks to a temperature control system that takes advantage of the oak's thermal inertia. Maceration on the skins extracts tannins and colour from the cap, which remains in contact with the wine for three weeks. The cap is submerged three times a day and the wine is also pumped over for optimum extraction. Once the vatting period is finished, the wine is put into barrels in the underground cellar. This large underground cellar (5 metres underground) holds 1,300 barrels on one level. Before barrel-ageing, the red wines spend approximately three weeks in malolactic fermentation at 20°C. This temperature is carefully maintained in a part of the cellar separated by plastic curtains.

The wine is ageed on barrel for 18 months – it rarely needs fining or filtration. Depending on the vintage, we use approximately 80% new barrels each year. The red wine is blended according to grape variety before the final blend: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and 10% Cabernet Franc. Although the percentages may vary from year to year, Cabernet always represents the lion's share. All wines are chגteau bottled.

BASIC WINEMAKING GLOSSARY :

Bגtonnage, or stirring: This practice consists of using a stick to stir the wine to put the lees into suspension. It is done twice a week for the first two months after fermentation and then on a less regular basis. The sticks used at Chגteau Smith Haut Lafitte were invented by Daniel Cathiard, inspired by a type of bent ski pole with blades.
Topping up: Wine evaporates during barrel ageing. Topping up consists of filling up the airspace and reducing the wine's surface area in contact with oxygen. The wine is topped up each time it is stirred.
Racking: Towards the end of the barrel-ageing process, the wine is racked to separate it from the lees. After racking, it is fined with bentonite before the final blend is made and the wine is bottled.