Bollinger

Bollinger kept the pre-industrial toolkit its neighbours retired. Base wines ferment in 4,000 second-hand Burgundy barrels, the largest barrel collection in Champagne; more than a million reserve magnums age under cork; and vintage bottles are riddled by hand, work that fewer than a dozen people still do across the region's 370 registered houses, among them Krug. Bollinger has also appeared in almost every James Bond film since 1973.

Three named tours run at Bollinger: The essentials of the Bollinger style, Pinot Noir at Bollinger, and A taste of time, which covers extended ageing, cellar maturation and the role of disgorgement. The published formats are cellar visits and garden parties, and every one is registered through 1829, the house's free membership programme. A boutique operates on site, separate from the tour route.

Bollinger receives visitors Monday to Friday only, so a weekend in Aÿ cannot include this house. The house lists no seasonal closure, though harvest weeks compress cellar access across Champagne. Weekend arrivals can still work the commune: Pressoria, the interpretation centre in Aÿ-Champagne, keeps its own calendar. Register with 1829, Bollinger's free visitor club, before travelling, because tour dates are published to members.

Bollinger's offices and boutique are at 20 boulevard Maréchal de Lattre in Aÿ, one of the three ensembles of the UNESCO Champagne property inscribed in 2015. The house address is not the whole site: the family home and barrel courtyard stand at 16 rue Jules Lobet, and the winery is two streets away at Chaudes Terres, one staircase above the cellars.

Bollinger is a Champagne house at 20 boulevard Maréchal de Lattre in Aÿ, founded on 6 February 1829 as Renaudin-Bollinger & Cie. It farms 180 hectares across seven vineyards in Champagne, 85% of them grand or premier cru, and builds every wine around Pinot Noir. The range runs from Special Cuvée through La Grande Année to R.D. and Vieilles Vignes Françaises.

The firm was founded on 6 February 1829 by Athanase de Villermont, Paul Renaudin and Joseph "Jacques" Bollinger. Queen Victoria granted a royal warrant in 1884. Elisabeth "Lily" Bollinger led the house from 1941 to 1971 and created both R.D. and Vieilles Vignes Françaises. Jérôme Philipon became the first chairman from outside the family in 2008; Charles-Armand de Belenet has been chief executive since 2017, with a bicentenary programme running to 2029.

Bollinger's 180 hectares sit across seven vineyards, 85% rated grand or premier cru. Pinot Noir comes from Aÿ, Avenay, Tauxières, Louvois and Verzenay around the Montagne de Reims; Chardonnay from Cuis on the Côte des Blancs; Meunier from Champvoisy in the Vallée de la Marne. Pinot Noir is over 60% of the vineyard, the same share it takes in Special Cuvée.

Two wine libraries opened here in June 2016, Galerie 1829 and La Réserve, built out of an abandoned cellar found during a 2010 inventory whose oldest bottle was identified as 1830. The barrels dry in the courtyard of the family home at 16 rue Jules Lobet, where the region's last in-house cooper maintains them. Visit requests that fall outside the standard tours go to 1829@champagne-bollinger.fr.