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Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Rare Champagne!

First ever release!
Very rare, Comes in a wood box
2012 Bollinger Coteaux Champenois La Cote Aux Enfants....$1,399.99 / bottle

The single parcel of La Côte Aux Enfants has long been the source for Bollinger’s still red wine for both their Rosé and their Coteaux Champenois bottlings. The 2012 Champagne Blanc de Noirs La Côte Aux Enfants Brut is their first release, with approximately 1000 bottles produced, only 70 of which will come into the United States. One hundred percent Pinot Noir, it is rich with incense, bread dough, fully ripe red fruits, and kirsch. The palate is broad and mouth-filling with consistency from the aromatics and has a long, floral finish with blackcurrant, lavender, toast, and a driving mineral texture. Though it is ripe and full, it maintains freshness and energy without feeling bruised and has refreshing salinity. It leaves a wonderful first impression, but this could certainly prove challenging to revisit given its miniscule quantities. Drink 2024-2044.
Rated 96+/100 Jeb Dunnuck

2nd release!
Comes in a wood box
2013 Bollinger Coteaux Champenois La Cote Aux Enfants....$1,399.99 / bottle
A vinous version, with subtle, savory hints of grilled herbs and tar on the nose, revealing a minerally underpinning to the palate's flavors of black currant, bread dough, saffron, crystallized honey and nuts as they ride the fine, raw silk–like mousse. Focused and powerful, sculpted and well-integrated, with firm acidity. Superlong finish. Disgorged March 2022. Best from 2025 through 2043. 40 cases imported.
Rated 97/100 The Wine Spectator
Complex aromas of pie crust, iron, chalk and hints of sweet strawberries. Some ginseng. Full-bodied with very fine bubbles that give it tension and focus. Extremely fine and polished tannins that go on and on. Dried lemons and oranges. Chalk at the end. Hints of bitterness in the finish with subtle botanicals. Made from a single vineyard monopole of pure pinot noir. Drink now.
Rated 99/100 James Suckling
The second-ever release for this cuvée, and coming from the monopole of four hectares, with half growing on the northern slope, the 2013 Champagne Blanc de Noirs La Cote Aux Enfants Brut pours a bright straw hue and is all about elegance, although it retains a pure core of fruit, with notes of raspberry, and has a fine mineral texture. This very well might prove to have even more potential, but it needs time to reveal itself. It certainly has the structure to be a significantly age-worthy wine over the coming decades. Drink 2025-2045. Dosage was 4 grams per liter. Disgorgement March 2022.
Rated 95+/100 Jeb Dunnuck


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