Bollinger, La Grande Annee Rose

Wonderful salmon color with remarkable effervescence. The cork literally blew off. Very fruity wine with no hints of toast or dilute balsamic vinegar, common flavors in old Champagne. Very big and fruity combining raspberries and strawberries with very nice acidity. Good balance, depth, and nuance with a long finish. Wish I had more.

Champagne 96 tasting, wine nr8. Best votes (2), Worst votes (0) out of 13. Golden color. Powerful mature nose. High acidity, round, soft, cheese, bread, long, high fruit sweetness, creamy, vanilla, high dosage. 94p

Somehow I've never had a Bollinger '96, nor a vintage rosé from this house, so this is extra special. Plenty of pressure under the quite shrunken cork, lots of mousse in the glass. Slightly hazy mid orange colour. Utterly glorious aroma: that deep, rich smell of older champagne. Chocolate cake, caramel, but also something lighter, maybe apricot (Sachertorte anyone?). I could smell this forever. In the mouth, the mousse is very delicate, frizzante. Initially steely acidity, as I suppose one …

A small impromptu dinner - Bordeaux and Champagne (Washington D.C.) : The last time I had this was in 2008. Just incredibly tasty. Decadent red fruits, raspberry essence, raspberry jam, perfectly ripe strawberries, smoke, a hint of crushed white pepper and mineral. Fully body, abundant fine mousse, decadent sweet red fruit driven palate impression, bright acidity and lovely clean finish that lasts. Still very youthful but drinking incredibly well. Highly recommend.

Pale salmon orange-pink color with abundant, fine bead. Aromas of berries and cream, toast, and a hint of mushroom. Palate has sweet berry, yeast, toast, and some earthy elements that carry into a long finish. Really great Grand Annee Rose drinking in prime form. Drink or hold.

Pale pink-orange color. Fine bead. Aromas of strawberry, toast, smoke, and tangerine. On the palate, this is like a tart strawberry parfait with cream, strawberry, cherry, vanilla, and a hint of sassafras showing. The finish is medium-long. This is drinking very well now and may have a longer life than the Grand Annee, but both are making compelling arguments for present consumption. Drink or hold.

Dinner at Cityzen, 82, 86, 89 and 90 first growth and LMHB (Cityzen, Washington DC) : Copper, strawberry, raspberry, explosive jammy red fruit nose with mineral background, some smoked salmon too. It has nice concentration, full body champagne with bright acidity. Very clean long sweet finish.

Dinner with fresh truffles (Sydney, Australia) : Salmon-orange in colour. A very fine, delicate bead. On the nose there are aromas of mushroom, earth and light caramel. The palate is a little rough around the edges with a fair bit of acid and not enough fruit remaining to match, although this seemed less of a problem with food.

A surprise - not nearly as good a past bottles. flat. Still decent. (16)

(at Abacrombie – Baltimore) Simply outstanding champagne. Pale salmon with wonderful, tiny bubbles. Full bodied, rich, and mouth-filling. Finish lasts forever. Very close to my wine of the afternoon. Should get even better with time in the bottle. (19.5+)

(no formal notes) Pale salmon, big pungent nose. This is the real deal. Explosive palate – ripe pinot fruit is evident with lovely verve and that typical long Bollinger finish. A monument that will last for years. How can it get better than this? (20)

The Dirty half dozen - 6 Champagnes (Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park) : This was extremely disappointing. It was my first pink bolli and on this evidence they should stick to the white stuff apart from the deep pink colour it showed no noticeable rose characteristics at all, it just tasted like a severe Bollinger NV. Started and finished monolithic and firm, with some oatcake and peachy notes. All in all rather rude and ungenerous, but it could just be a …