First taste: Bollinger PN AYC 18
Champagne Bollinger has released the fourth edition in its limited series of Pinot Noir-only bottlings, focusing on the grand cru village of Aÿ in the 2018 vintage.
Bollinger’s PN range aims to cement the house’s reputation as a Pinot Noir expert: it is the only house to use more than 60% of Pinot Noir in all of its blends. A recent press release said that the range is used to ‘highlight the impact of terroir and the link between vine and wine.’
The project began with PN VZ 15 and PN VZ 16, both based on the north-facing Verzenay cru from the 2015 and 2016 vintages. The PN TX 17 followed, based on the cool, chalky grand cru of Tauxières from 2017.
Scroll down to see Tom Hewson’s tasting note and score for Bollinger PN AYC 18
The newest iteration moves onto the celebrated chalky, south-facing slopes of the grand cru village of Aÿ in the Grand Vallée de la Marne.
The house felt that the warm and abundant 2018 vintage suited Aÿ especially well, with the base wines showing ‘all the hallmarks of Pinot Noir from this terroir: a linear character, length, and breadth,’ the press release said.
2018’s reputation as a solar, easy-drinking vintage with moderate concentration is challenged by the performance of vineyards on the purest chalk soils, which ‘moderated conditions in grand cru vineyards, resulting in particularly outstanding, very concentrated grapes with a natural average ripeness of 11° and powerful acidity,’ the press release said.
See tasting notes and scores for the previous releases:
PN VZ 15 | PN VZ 16 | PN TX 17
These releases are not, however, completely single-vintage, single-cru wines. Bollinger has a rich library of reserve wines, many of which are stored in magnum (a Bollinger peculiarity); the PN releases benefit from the considerable complexity brought by adding these reserve wines – here at an impactful rate of 50% – into the blend.
This reserve wine usage means this release feels much more mature than a straight 2018 vintage wine. However it’s not only this that elevates the blend. The PN wines are balanced by small percentages of wines from complementary terroirs to the main featured one – in this case, the two terroirs already used in the series, Verzenay and Tauxières, as well as cooler Avenay. The wines from these terroirs are steel-tank vinified, bringing a complementary freshness to the blend.
Stylistically, PN AYC 18 marks a step up in intensity, breadth and complexity upon release from the previous selections. The barrel-fermented wines from the house’s home village of Aÿ in the 2018 vintage surely make their impact, although the reserve wines are singing louder still. It’s a wine that feels truly Bollinger, through and through, recognisable not only to newer fans of the house but also to those who have known the wines through previous decades.
The Bollinger PN AYC 18 cuvée retails in the UK for £95 per bottle.
Tom Hewson’s tasting note and score for Bollinger PN AYC 18:
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Bollinger, PN AYC 18, Champagne, France
A wine of constant surprise and contrast, first with the heat and generosity of 2018 offering up voluminous roasted apricots and apples, a bittersweet orange...
Bollinger
