Bollinger Rose Champagne | 75 cl

Product Information

Bollinger is a well renowned Champagne brand whose vineyards can be found in the Ay region of France. This is nestled in the Champagne region, well known across the world for providing delicious and refreshing drinks. The grapes grown here and used in this Champagne are majority Pinot Noir, as well as Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Fruity Notes The Special Cuvée accounts for much of their production and is representative of the rich, powerfully flavoured style of wine that is the hallmark of the house. Bollinger R.D the brainchild of Madame Lily Bollinger ('Aunt Lily'), the very finest expression of Champagne from the best vineyards (71% grand cru, the rest premier). It begins life as the vintage La Grande Année but in certain vintages, such as 2002, some of the wine is aged much longer before disgorgement just before release. Dosage, or the addition of cane sugar and wine just after disgorgement, is reduced, permitting RD to be sold as extra brut. It is a stylish and wonderfully individual Champagne with quite magnificent structure and length of flavour. La Grande Année is the vintage cuvée, vinified only in small oak barrels made by the in-house cooper. Prolonged ageing on its lees follows before being riddled and disgorged by hand.

It depends on the length of the journey, of course, as Labour’s Diane Abbott found when she was spotted one evening in 2019, drinking a ready-mixed mojito on an Overground train through her north London constituency. It didn’t help that Abbott was then Shadow Home Secretary, and drinking had been illegal on Transport for London services since 2008. It was banned across the network by the then-London mayor, Boris Johnson. Created under strict conditions in the Champagne region of France, Bollinger Special Cuvée's unique taste is the result of blending freshly harvested grapes with reserve wines to achieve the familiar, Pinot-strong mix. It features fruity undertones with a rich velvety texture. The nose has hints of brioche, with undertones of fig and spice. This is a dry, rather than sweet, champagne. The complexity of the taste can be attributed to the age of reserve wines, often up to fifteen years old, which create the multifaceted taste at the heart of the Special Cuvée. The champagne is fermented in oak barrels, which also contribute to the unique taste. The wine pairs well with fish and other seafood, though will generally complement most cuisine. Top Bottles at Low Prices However, it wasn’t until Madame Clicquot revolutionised the production decades later that pink champagne truly became popularised. “She used to say: ‘Our wines must be flattering both on the palate and on the eye.’” explains Didier Mariotti, chef de cave at Veuve Clicquot.Rosé champagne hasn't always been favoured by those who take their bubbles seriously – but now, it's very much a chic move. Created using a combination of three grapes – pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay – rosé champagne has been adopted by the finest luxury houses, and now accounts for an increasingly large portion of sales. In fact, the UK is one of the largest importers.

Responding to rising demand, champagne producers are now placing more attention on producing pink varieties. It’s up to the champagne cellar master (or 'chef de cave') to select the recipe that best reflects their house style. As such, you can expect these wines to range in colour from pale blush to salmon pink, often with a taste of fresh summer fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries and cherry. Sometimes there will be a touch of brioche, pastry or toastiness too – and there must always be smooth, persistent bubbles. Bollinger is one of very few Champagne houses to grow the majority of the grapes they use. All the vineyards are farmed sustainably, employing methods designed to increase biodiversity, even down to planting hedgerows and orchards.saw the choice of the first chairman of the business to come from outside the family in the form of a native of Champagne, Jérôme Philipon, who worked previously for Coca Cola. The standards that have made the house of Bollinger what it is today remain firmly in place. In 1818, this Grande Dame broke with tradition and re-created the process of making rosé champagne. Before, it was made by adding an elderberry-based mixture into white champagne. Madame Clicquot had a bold vision in which color, taste, and aromas were vital to the quality of the wine. She had vines in the Bouzy region of Champagne where she made her own red wine, and she decided to blend this with her still white wines.” The result was a rosé champagne with unique complexity and lasting popularity. Founded in 1829 by Joseph Bollinger, from Swabia in Germany, and Champenois native Paul Renaudin, the business was soon in a position to expand and seek new markets. In so doing, Bollinger became the first house to export dry Champagne to Britain, in 1865, earning a royal Warrant in the process. They began exporting to the United States in 1870. It goes without saying your preferred bubbles must be served chilled. We suggest serving rosé champagne at a temperature of 8 to 10°C ,” says Mariotti – any cooler and you run the risk of killing the delicate, nuanced flavours. But, as far as food pairings go, you might be surprised by how versatile rosé champagne can be. So too did the spread of miniature wine bottles from planes to trains (it’s not really drinking if it’s that small, is it?) and the advent of M&S gin-in-a-tin. Long before Fleabag’s hot priest further popularised these potent pop-tops, a pre-mixed drink in a can had already become the acceptable way to wind down on the commute home, or to ease one’s way into a weekend in the country. It put the gin in ‘engine’, or vice versa.

Bollinger Champagne has been a household name in sparkling wines since 1829. It is a symbol of quality and prestige ever since then. The Rosé Champagne is a relatively new addition to the brand, and has been on shelves with about 30 years. It is available in sizes of 35 cl, 75 cl, and 1.5 L. The Champagne comes in a beautiful pink presentation box, ideal for gifting. Don't forget to pair with Champagne flutes. Delicious Champagne for Every Occasion Its rich, even weighty Champagnes owe something of their luxurious flavour to the vines and their care, to the predominance of pinot noir in the blends, and to the barrel fermentation and extended lees ageing the wines undergo. Rosé champagne may feel like a fairly new trend, but it is believed to have begun with Ruinart, who are said to have shipped the first bottles of pink fizz in 1764. Well, quite. Drinking on a train is entirely different to the sense-deadening desperation of boozing before or during a flight (where cabin pressure and recycled air numb the tastebuds, hence the popularity of highly spiced Bloody Marys). On a train you can be Daniel Craig and Eva Green in Casino Royale, or Cary Grant and Eve Marie Saint in North by Northwest, though a quaffing companion is not strictly necessary. Lily, who had carefully planned her succession as cleverly as she planned everything else, handed control to her very able nephew Claude d’Hautefeuille in 1971 and died in 1977, having made Bollinger an even greater house. In 1978 the management of the business passed to Lily’s nephew Christian Bizot and it remains in family hands to this day, a bastion of tradition allied with understated modernity.Renowned for consistently fantastic quality, Bollinger Special Cuvée is an elegant champagne that is sure to make your evening special. This champagne house has been refining their techniques since 1829, using the unique chalky soil of their vineyards to produce high quality Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. Known affectionately in the UK as "Bolly", this brand has become a firm favourite and is sure to bring a touch of class to every occasion. The Gift of Good Taste

Thanks to its roundness, rosé and cheese make unexpectedly great company," adds Mariotti. "It perfectly matches with fresh goat’s cheese, a young Mimolette and with Ossau-Iraty." The varieties of grapes used here give this rosé Champagne a distinctive fruity note. The nose of this drink hints at strawberry, wild cherry, and redcurrant. There is also a slightly spicy touch, which will remind the drinker of Special Cuvee. Ideal Pairings for Rosé Champagne

Fruity Notes

As with so much else in life, the acceptability of drinking on a train depends entirely on the style and spirit in which it is undertaken. On a mid-morning train to Devon last year, my wife and I walked to our seats past a couple of lads, neither older than 20, who were already working their way through a 24-can slab of Strongbow Cider. Later one of them stood behind me in the queue for the loo. “Gonna be long mate?” he asked, with a pleasant smile. “It’s just, I think I might have to puke...”