THESE BUBBLES LAUGH ON YOUR TONGUE
Champagne tickles our noses, makes us giddy, and can bring beautiful laughter to any moment, all delivered by beautiful bubbles.
Bubbles are created in the bottle during champagne’s 2nd fermentation, as yeast devours the grape sugars and releases carbon dioxide into the wine. Once satiated, the yeast cells die. Their remains, called lees, are then disgorged, as the final part of the intricate champagne-making process, leaving the bubbly clean and clear.
There are about 2 million bubbles in a typical glass of champagne. They range from one micron to one millimetre in diameter, depending on the age and type of champagne, the shape and condition of the glass, and the position of the bubbles.
Crazy fact: Champagne in a perfectly clean smooth glass will yield no bubbles. Glass needs to be a little bit rough and “dirty” to release the carbonation.
The subtle qualities of champagne bubbles can elevate one bottle over another. Bollinger champagnes are especially known for their bubbliciousness. They are James Bond’s bubbles of choice, in fact, appearing in 13 of his films.
Bollinger’s RD Champagnes are the chateau’s creme de la creme offering.
RD stands for Recently Disgorged. That means the disgorgement was delayed, allowing the wine to age on the lees (sur lees). This adds layers of complexity, while keeping the fizz fresh and spritely. It’s a process reserved for only the finest vintages.
The Bollinger family has been making exceptional Champagne for centuries. When Jacques Bollinger died in 1941, his wife Lily took over and expanded the business. She invented the RD cuvée in 1961 for the 1952 Bollinger Grande Année to compete with her rivals’ new “prestige cuveés.”
Lily loved champagne: “I drink champagne when I am happy and when I am sad. Sometimes I drink it alone. In company I consider it obligatory. I sip a little if I am not hungry and drink it if I am hungry. Otherwise I do not touch it – unless I am thirsty, of course.”
She envisioned an older vintage, disgorged late, with minimal sugar.The first RD vintage, the 1952, was shipped to England in 1967.
Since then, only a few other chateaus have produced RD cuvées. RDs are expensive to produce -- they have to sit, as inventory, waiting 12 years or more until they can fetch a return. Only the privately owned and patient play this market.
The returns are unabashedly magnificent. Marking the 50th anniversary of Bollinger’s RD series, from 1952, Bollinger RD 2002 is the creme de la creme de la creme.
It is rich, full, and soft, thanks to dominant pinot noir and ultra mellow aged oak casks.
Bollinger RD 2002 bubbles deliver plush apricots, deepened by roasted almonds, topped with fluttery white blossoms. It’s full on, full spectrum tickle.
Only a few thousand bottles of RD 2002 were produced. While they debuted in 2015, it is still possible to score a bottle.
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