2002 Bollinger La Grande Annee

2002 Bollinger La Grande Annee

I have tasted many 2002 champagne, and I must confess it’s a super vintage for champagne. Bollinger is known to be very long lived; thus, it would be interesting to evaluate the content as this was my first time having a Bollinger 2002. Nose was very fruity and forward, and I thought that would have been a very ready champagne, but I was very wrong. A sip and I can feel that it’s totally unready, very dry and tannic. Luckily we have the whole bottle to ourselves (drank by 4 persons), otherwise based upon a glass, I would have declared the champagne not ready and have to wait another decade. On my 2nd glass, my friend and I had detected some minor improvement (bear in mind all the time the champagne is chilled in an ice bucket). Normally it’s hard to detect improvements from ice chilled champagne, probably we were drinking outdoor (having a BBQ), thus the warm up came quickly. On the 3rd glass, the tannins and dryness has gone away, replaced with very matured fruits and very enjoyable. My conclusion; this champagne can easily age for another few decades without problem. I think optimal drinking window is probably beyond 2036.