B16 Limited Edition Bollinger Champagne

A sophisticated champagne with extremely refined character and linear phenolics that give it length and class. It's medium-bodied with grapefruit and apples as well as pie crust. Bright acidity at the end. A blend of 72% pinot noir and 28% chardonnay. Dosage 4 g/L. Drink or hold.

TESTVINDER (Årets Nytårschampagne): Et lille stjerneskud på 73% pinot noir og 27% chardonnay. Vidunderlig og let likorøs i duft, hvor man finder indslag af æble, gule blommer, hindbær, kridt og gær, hasselnødder og chokolade. Ustyrlig lækker og ren i smagen. Snorlige i munden med enorm koncentration og længde. Fremragende vin på Extra Brut-niveau (4 gr. restsukker).

93P+: The 2016 B 16 is a small bottling from Bollinger that takes the place of the Grand Année, as conditions did not allow Bollinger to bottle their flagship cuveé. Brisk floral top notes give this mid-weight, expressive Champagne a good deal of immediacy. The blend is 73% Pinot Noir and 27% Chardonnay, with the Chardonnay very much in evidence. Dosage is 4 grams per liter. Disgorged: November 2024.

In 2013, Bollinger did not release a Grande Année but did offer its B13, a single-vintage take on a year considered atypical for the Bollinger style. The concept is repeated in the tricky but ultimately fine quality 2016 harvest with the B16. It presents a relatively delicate, cool and understated vintage relative to the Grande Année. The ripeness of the Pinot Noir is certainly present in the juicy stewed apricot and fresh raspberry fruit, but Chardonnay here brings gentle orchard fruit and fresh grapefruit zest beneath subtle richness of toasted nut and oyster shell complexity from ageing. While Grande Année offers more intensity and drama, and the latest PN series offers dynamism and youthful energy, B16 is perfectly pitched between smooth maturity and approachable brightness, all at a temptingly moderate premium over the non-vintage cuvée.