Bollinger () is a French

Champagne house The listing below comprises some of the more prominent houses of Champagne. Most of the major houses are members of the organisation ''Union de Maisons de Champagne'' (UMC),Champagne region The wine region within the historical province of Champagne in the northeast of France is best known for the production of champagne, the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name. EU law and the laws of most countries reserve the term " ...

. They produce several labels of

Champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

under the Bollinger name, including the

vintage Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...

''Vieilles Vignes Françaises, Grande Année'' and ''R.D.'' as well as the non-vintage Special Cuvée. Founded in 1829 in

Aÿ Aÿ (; also Ay) is a former commune in the Marne department in northeastern France. On 1 January 2016 it was merged into the new commune Aÿ-Champagne. Champagne Aÿ is most famous as a centre of the production of Champagne. Aÿ's vineyards are ...

by Hennequin de Villermont, Paul Renaudin and Jacques Bollinger, the house continues to be run by members of the Bollinger family. In Britain, Bollinger Champagnes are affectionately known as "Bolly".

History

Bollinger has roots in the

Champagne region The wine region within the historical province of Champagne in the northeast of France is best known for the production of champagne, the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name. EU law and the laws of most countries reserve the term " ...

dating back to 1585 when the Hennequins, one of the Bollinger founding families, owned land in

Cramant Cramant () is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. Champagne The village's vineyards are located in the Côte des Blancs subregion of Champagne, and are classified as Grand Cru (100%) in the Champagne vineyard classificatio ...

. Before the Bollinger house was founded, in the 18th century the Villermont family practised

wine making Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and w ...

, though not under their family name. In 1750, Villermont settled in the location 16 rue Jules Lobet, which would eventually become the head office for Bollinger. In 1803 Jacques Joseph Placide Bollinger was born in

Ellwangen Ellwangen an der Jagst, officially Ellwangen (Jagst), in common use simply Ellwangen () is a town in the district of Ostalbkreis in the east of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is situated about north of Aalen. Ellwangen has 25,000 inhabitants. ...

, in the

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg (german: Königreich Württemberg ) was a German state that existed from 1805 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which exist ...

. In 1822, he moved to the Champagne region and began work at the Champagne house of Muller Ruinart, which no longer exists. Many other German nationals came to settle in the Champagne region, including Johann-Josef Krug and the Heidsiecks, who founded a house that would become

Charles Heidsieck Charles Camille Heidsieck (1822–1893) was a French Champagne merchant who founded the Champagne firm '' Charles Heidsieck'' in 1851. He is credited with popularizing Champagne in the United States and was known as "Champagne Charlie" during his ...

, Piper Heidsieck,

Heidsieck & Co Monopole Heidsieck & Co "Monopole" is a champagne house located in the Champagne region of France. History It was founded in 1785 by Florens-Louis Heidsieck. Following the death of the founder in 1828, the successors were his relatives Henri-Louis Walba ...

Veuve Clicquot Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin () is a Champagne house founded in 1772 and based in Reims. It is one of the largest Champagne houses. Madame Clicquot is credited with major breakthroughs, creating the first known vintage champagne in 1810, and i ...

and others. The Champagne house Renaudin Bollinger was founded on 6 February 1829 in Aÿ by Hennequin de Villermont, Paul Levieux Renaudin and Jacques Bollinger. The partners agreed that the Villermont name would not be used on the labels, hence the house name Renaudin Bollinger. Starting when Jacques Bollinger married Charlotte de Villermont, the house has been managed by the Bollinger family. Even though Paul Renaudin passed without an heir to his name, the label did not become solely Bollinger until the 1960s. Founder Jacques Joseph Bollinger married Charlotte de Villermont. The couple had a daughter, Marie, who had two sons Joseph and Georges. These sons took over the company in 1885 and began expanding the family estate by purchasing vineyards in nearby villages. The sons also developed the image of the brand, such as when Bollinger received a

Royal Warrant A royal warrant is a document issued by a monarch which confers rights or privileges on the recipient, or has the effect of law. Royal warrant may refer to: * Royal warrant of appointment, warrant to tradespeople who supply goods or services to a r ...

in 1884 from

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

Expansion under Lily Bollinger

In 1918 Jacques Bollinger, the son of Georges, took over the company. Jacques married Emily Law de Lauriston Boubers, known as "Lily". Jacques further expanded the facilities by building new cellars, purchasing the Tauxières vineyards, and acquiring the assets of another Champagne house on Boulevard du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny, where Bollinger's offices are presently located. When Jacques Bollinger died in 1941,

Lily Bollinger Lily Bollinger (born Élisabeth Law de Lauriston-Boubers; 1899 - 22 February 1977 near Reims, France) was the head of the Bollinger Champagne business from 1941 to 1971. Bollinger was the daughter of Baron Olivier Law de Lauriston-Boubers and Ber ...

took over. Lily expanded production through the purchase of more vineyards, but is better known for traveling the world to promote the brand. Lily was well-publicized in the Champagne region, leaving several noteworthy quotes.

I drink it when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise, I never touch it—unless I’m thirsty.

Lily managed Bollinger until 1971, when her nephews Claude d'Hautefeuille and Christian Bizot succeeded her.

Modern day

Bollinger was modernized under the direction of Claude d'Hautefeuille, who acquired additional vineyards and developed the brand internationally. Following Claude, his cousin Christian Bizot took over the Bollinger house. In addition to expanding the world distribution of Bollinger, Bizot developed a Charter of Ethics and Quality in 1992. Since 1994, Ghislain de Mongolfier has managed Bollinger. A great-grandson of the founder, Mongolfier has also served as president of the Association Viticole Champenoise since 2004, after leading the Commission of Champagne for 10 years. In April of 2021, Bollinger finalized a purchase of Willamette Valley's Ponzi Family Winery in Oregon Wine Country, on the West Coast of the United States. The region has been known to grow some of the best Pinot Noir wine grapes in the world, and this purchase marks another esteemed French producer becoming more involved in American West Coast wine production. The winemaker has also used the

James Bond film James Bond is a fictional character created by British novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. A British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007, Bond has been portrayed on film in twenty-seven productions by actors Sean Connery, David Niv ...

series as a marketing device for several decades, beginning in 1973 in the film '' Live and Let Die'' and more recently in the 2006 film '' Casino Royale''.

Wines

Bollinger is one of the few remaining independent Champagne houses. Family-managed since 1889, Bollinger maintains more than 150 hectares of vineyards. It currently produces the following sparkling wines: *Special Cuvée (non-vintage): The Bollinger house style. This Champagne blend uses grapes from a given year, with the addition of reserve wines. Champagne author Tom Stevenson describes the house style as "classic, Pinot-dominated Champagnes of great potential longevity and complexity" which "tends to go toasty." The blend includes up to 10% reserve wines, which may be up to fifteen years old. Special Cuvée are aged in the lees for at least five years before release. (''Composition:'' 60%

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

, 25%

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

, 15% Pinot Meunier.) *Grande Année (vintage): this Champagne is also available as a

rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. ...

. The wine spends five years on its lees and is aged in bottle under

cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, instead of crown seal. (''Composition:'' 65% Pinot noir, 35% Chardonnay.) *R.D. (vintage): it spends at least eight years on its lees, and like the ''Grand Année'', is aged under cork, not crown seal. R.D. is a registered trademark of Bollinger which stands for ''récemment dégorgé'' ("recently disgorged"). In the mid-1990s, Bollinger sold Année Rare, which was an R.D. that had undergone longer aging on the lees. *Vieille Vignes Françaises (vintage): a blanc de noirs is made in small quantity with wine from two small plots of ungrafted rootstock planted in low density. The English wine writer

Cyril Ray Cyril Ray (16 March 1908 – 24 September 1991) was an English writer and journalist. After a spell as a war reporter, and then a foreign correspondent he became best known for writing about food and, especially, wine. He became a wine writer al ...

suggested the idea of using the ungrafted vines to produce a separate wine to Madame Bollinger in the 1960s. The first vintage was 1969. Vieille Vignes refers to how the

vines are trained The use of vine training systems in viticulture is aimed primarily to assist in canopy management with finding the balance in enough foliage to facilitate photosynthesis without excessive shading that could impede grape ripening or promote grape ...

rather than the age of the rootstock. The low-density vineyards, Clos St-Jacques in Aÿ and Chaudes Terres in Aÿ, are severely pruned, and produce 35% less juice per vine, creating a "super rich wine." In 2005,

phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs ...

destroyed the third vineyard used for this wine, Croix Rouge in Bouzy. *Coteaux Champenois La Côte aux Enfants (vintage): This still red wine is produced from grapes grown on the south-facing slope of the 100% echelle vineyard, the Côte aux Enfants in Aÿ.

Reserve wines

Every harvest, Bollinger saves some wines from the grand crus and premier crus for reserve wines. The reserves are bottled in magnums with cork, under light pressure and aged for five to fifteen years.

Production

Bollinger is fermented in oak barrels, and at harvest, usually only the first pressing is used, the ''cuvée''. Bollinger sells some second pressings, the '' tailles''. It utilizes two pressing houses, Louvois and Mareuil sur Aÿ. The first fermentation is done cru by cru, variety by variety. Wines that will not hold up to first fermentation in wood are vinified in vats. Bollinger Champagnes usually undergo malolactic fermentation, with traditional yeast. Vintage wine, including all wine to be used in a Grande Année, is fermented in small oak barrels, sorted according to origin and variety. Both oak and stainless steel are used for non-vintage wine. The wines are only lightly filtered. Bollinger ages their non-vintage wines three years, and the vintage wines five to eight years. The ''Grande Année'' and ''R.D.'' Champagnes are riddled by hand. At disgorgement, Bollinger wines are given a low dosage. The company uses 6–9 grams of

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

per litre for the ''Special Cuvée'' and ''La Grande Année''. The extra- brut ''R.D.'' is dosed between 4 and 5 grams. After dosage, the wines are aged an additional several months, resting for a minimum of three months before shipping. The champagnes are shipped ready to be consumed.

Grape supply

Bollinger owns nearly 160 hectares of vines, producing more than 60% of its supply. The vines are predominantly Pinot noir, specifically clone 386. The vineyards also include some ungrafted French vines from before the

epidemic. Bollinger owns vines in the heart of the Champagne region, including the crus of Aÿ, Bouzy and Verzenay. List of Villages with size of holding and rating * Avenay-Val-d'Or: 15 hectares of 93% echelle. *

: 22 hectares of 100% echelle * Bisseuil: 5.4 hectares of 93% echelle * Bouzy: 0.25 hectares of 100% echelle * Champvoisy: 17 hectares of 84% echelle * Cuis: 21.15 hectares of 95% echelle *

Grauves Grauves () is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Marne department The following is a list of the 613 communes in the French department of Marne. The communes cooperate in the following inter ...

: 6.6 hectares of 95% echelle * Louvois: 15.7 hectares of 100% echelle * Mutigny: 3.95 hectares of 93% echelle *

Tauxières-Mutry Tauxières-Mutry () is a former commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune Val de Livre.Verzenay: 17 hectares of 100% echelle

Corporate structure

The holding company for Bollinger is Société Jacques Bollinger, whose holdings in France also include Ayala Champagne, Maison Chanson in Burgundy, Langlois-Chateau in the Loire valley and Delamain in Cognac. In Australia, Société Jacques Bollinger has invested in the Tapanappa Winery located in the

Wrattonbully Wrattonbully is a wine region in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia's South East, between the Padthaway and Coonawarra regions, between the Riddoch Highway and the Victorian border.Longbottom et al., 2011, page 20 The Wrattonbul ...

wine region in Australia. Other partners in the Tapanappa Winery are Jean Michel Cazes of

Château Lynch-Bages Château Lynch-Bages is a winery in the Pauillac appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. Château Lynch-Bages is also the name of the red wine produced by this property. The wine produced here was classified as one of eighteen ''Cinqui ...

and Brian Croser, formerly of Petaluma Winery.