The 2018 vintage delivered warmth, generosity and unusually early ripeness across the Champagne region, yet it also retained a freshness that might not have been expected from the conditions.
Harvest began on 23 August, among the earliest starts the House had experienced at the time. Bollinger commenced in Aÿ with the ungrafted vines of Vieilles Vignes Françaises, a parcel that traditionally leads its picking sequence. Yields were high, but ripening remained consistent, without the interruptions or blockages that can occur during hot, dry seasons.
Water availability proved critical. Wet conditions from April until approximately mid-June created significant mildew pressure and made vineyard management difficult. After flowering, however, the weather became dry and warm. With adequate water reserves already in the soils, the growing cycle accelerated, leading to the early harvest.
The resulting wines possessed density, but also freshness, with distinctive tropical-fruit notes that Bollinger does not often encounter in these parcels. Interestingly, the team recognised echoes of the same brightness and openness while tasting the young wines of 2025.
A broader expression of La Grande Année
La Grande Année 2018 follows the classical architecture of the cuvée with 66% Pinot Noir and 34% Chardonnay, drawn exclusively from Premier and Grand Cru villages. Nineteen crus contribute to the blend, but two historical centres of Bollinger’s identity - Aÿ and Verzenay- are especially prominent, each accounting for 19%.
The two villages bring opposing but complementary personalities. Aÿ, the home of the House, has always contributed density, vinosity and structure, together with the phenolic grip and fine bitterness that help carry Bollinger’s power. Verzenay, on the cooler, north-facing side of the Montagne de Reims, brings a more restrained expression: elegance, freshness and salinity.
Together, they represent more than a third of the finished wine and over half of its Pinot Noir. Their relationship is central to the balance of La Grande Année: Aÿ supplies breadth and authority, while Verzenay gives the wine lift, definition and line.
The Chardonnay component includes the familiar villages of Cramant, Avize, Cuis and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Cramant and Avize together make up approximately 20% of the blend. Cuis carries particular historical resonance for Bollinger. The family once lived there and continues to own a significant share in vineyards as well as the surrounding forest.
Unusually, wood from Cuis is used by the House’s resident cooper to repair its extensive collection of barrels. It is not used to produce new barrels - an important distinction - but to replace individual damaged staves and extend the life of vessels that may remain at Bollinger for 30, 40 or even 50 years.
Bollinger acquires its barrels from Domaine Chanson in Burgundy, another estate owned by the family, once they are generally four or five years old. By then, any overt oak influence has largely subsided. For Bollinger, their purpose is not to flavour the wine, but to enable controlled oxygen exchange and build texture through fermentation and maturation on lees.
La Grande Année undergoes its alcoholic fermentation and élevage in these old barrels, remaining there for approximately six to eight months. In an early year such as 2018, the period can be slightly longer with harvest completed by early September, the wines are generally not racked until April or May of the following year.
The 2018 spent approximately six years on lees, followed by close to a year of post-disgorgement ageing, and was finished with a dosage of 6 g/L.
In the glass, this is a broader and more immediately generous La Grande Année. The attack is softer and less austere than in some previous releases. Its freshness remains intact, but it moves more horizontally across the palate than vertically, with a fleshy texture and open expression of fruit. Grilled hazelnut adds a savoury dimension, while the finish is measured rather than especially long. It is recognisably Bollinger, although the warmth and accessibility of 2018 speak clearly through the House style.
Rosé as an extension, not an alternative
La Grande Année Rosé 2018 begins with a closely related white-wine base, to which 5% red wine is added. That red wine comes from the southern section of La Côte aux Enfants in Aÿ, with the fruit destemmed before maceration.
The objective is density and concentration, but in a warm year like 2018, extraction demands considerable restraint. Naturally ripe fruit can deliver colour and structure quickly, bringing with it the risk of excessive bitterness or weight.
The grapes underwent approximately three to five days of cold maceration, with the total maceration lasting around 20 days. Fermentation temperatures were maintained at approximately 25°C, with limited intervention - sometimes only a single punch-down - to extract colour and layers of red fruit without pushing the wine too far. After alcoholic fermentation, the wine was transferred to barrel for malolactic fermentation.
The red wine contributes dried and toasted fruit characters as well as a narrow, controlled line of bitterness. Rather than making the rosé feel heavier, that bitterness extends the sensation of freshness and gives shape to the finish. At 7 g/L dosage, the intention is not to create an entirely different wine from La Grande Année Blanc, but a more complex evolution of it: two members of the same family, sharing a recognisable structure and direction.
PN and the new geography of Bollinger
If La Grande Année interprets a vintage through multiple crus, Bollinger’s PN collection turns the perspective sideways. Each release places one Pinot Noir village at the centre, supported by wines from other vintages and by Bollinger’s extensive reserves.
PN VZ19, based around Verzenay, demonstrates the precision of this approach. Elegant and fresh, it has a sustained line and good length, with stone fruit and a distinctly flinty quality on the nose. Its construction includes 25% barrel-vinified wine from 2019, 25% stainless-steel wine from 2019, 25% wine from the 2018 vintage held in tank and 25% reserve wine from 2009 preserved in magnum.
Reserve magnums are a defining Bollinger resource. Between PN and Special Cuvée, approximately 100,000 magnums are opened by hand for blending. Bottled at only around 1.5 bars of pressure, the wines mature slowly under cork before being returned to the blend.
PN TX20 explores Tauxières, a village that can be as late to ripen as Verzenay. In cooler seasons it may appear austere, but the warmth of 2020 allowed its character to emerge more fully. Its soils are diverse, moving between thin and deeper profiles, chalk and areas containing clay. The result is more overtly bitter and chalk-inflected than Verzenay. Incorporating reserve wine from 2008 magnums and 2019 tank reserves, it is straight, fresh and notably dry through the finish, with 8 g/L dosage.
PN AYC18 moves to Aÿ. With 42% of the blend coming from the dominant cru, it is denser and riper, its vinosity expressed through notes of fresh and cooked apple. Reserve wines include 2009 Aÿ preserved in magnum after barrel vinification, alongside separately held tank reserves from 2016 and 2017.
PN AY21 shows another face of the village. The difficult, rain-soaked 2021 season brought storms through June and July, higher acidity and a return to a September harvest. Supported by magnum reserves from 2012, 2013 and 2014 and tank reserves from 2019, it is round and creamy, with marzipan, almond meal and pastry-like complexity. Yet the freshness of the base year remains essential to its balance.
This may be PN’s greatest achievement. It takes Bollinger’s historic command of Pinot Noir and turns it into an ongoing conversation about place, time and blending. It borrows something from the grower mindset but elevates it to the scale and resources of a Maison. Each release does more than introduce another cuvée: it reopens the question of what Pinot Noir can become in Champagne through Bollinger’s interpretation, one village at a time.
