As you may know, I am a true die-hard blanc de blancs girl. Give me a pure Chardonnay champagne any day, and I could ask for nothing more. At one point though, I started to feel that I was missing out on a whole world of great Pinot Noir-heavy bubblies. Although it is rare to come by a one-hundred percent black grape champagne, blanc de noirs, some of the most coveted champagnes are in this style. Bollinger’s Vieilles Vignes Françaises being a prime example. It was actually the famed house of Bollinger that opened me up to the heavier and luscious style of champagne made predominately of black grapes. I started drinking Bollinger since you can easily find it by the glass in Shanghai. So, I would order it just because it was so widely available and also because it is such a treat to find it by the glass. It’s unheard of in Manhattan. Then, it happened, I was converted.
The R.D. 95 (R.D. stands for recently disgorged) is sumptuous. The whole point of the R.D. wines is the long ageing process and disgorging right before the wine is released. These wines can age anywhere from eight to twenty years before being released. Talk about complexity and structure. I recently enjoyed this wine alongside
