Since 1829, the House of Bollinger has been making great champagnes with a powerful, refined and complex style. Virtuoso wines that are the fruit of a constant demand for excellence: there's no room for the "almost-about" at Bollinger. We are constantly striving for perfection down to the smallest detail. Uncompromising independence of spirit and uncompromising distinction: this Champagne elegance has won over the British Crown, which has awarded the House the prestigious Royal Warrant, the official supplier to the Court, since 1884. The 178 hectares of the House's vineyards are 85% Grands and Premiers crus and are divided into seven main vineyards: Aÿ, Avenay, Tauxières, Louvois and Verzenay in Pinot Noir, Cuis in Chardonnay and Champvoisy in Meunier. Bollinger is one of the only Houses in Champagne to produce most of the grapes used for its blends itself. Pinot Noir represents 60% (or sixty percent) of the house vineyard: the exact proportion given to this demanding grape variety in the blending of Special Cuvée! Complex and powerful, it gives Bollinger wines their remarkable structure. Another particularity of Bollinger, two plots of land still spared from phylloxera, a disease that at the beginning of the 20th century ravaged almost the entire Champagne vineyard: the Clos Saint-Jacques and the Clos des Chaudes Terres in Aÿ. These free standing vines are worked by hand, according to the ancient method of provignage: a means of preserving this extraordinary heritage, from which the very rare cuvée Vieilles Vignes Françaises is made. Bollinger has also taken steps towards sustainable viticulture: grassing of the soil, very strong reduction of herbicides, biological control of insects, and the use of pruning woods... The installation of hedges and orchards must preserve biodiversity, while the four hectares of La Côte aux Enfants are managed according to the principles of organic agriculture. Bollinger is the first Champagne House to obtain State certification for "High Environmental Value". Highly engaging, this marks its determination to continue protecting its vineyards! Entering the workshop of Bollinger's cooper, the last remaining cooper in Champagne, is like taking a trip back in time: the carefully arranged tools seem to come from another century. Cooperage is a retail trade: each of the 3,500 old barrels in the Bollinger park, some of which are almost 100 years old, requires the utmost attention. Like wine, wood is a living material: the cooper must scrutinize each stave to carefully repair those that threaten to yield. When the barrels are not in use, they must be filled, dried, wicked. Learning how to maintain this heritage in perfect condition requires a rigorous apprenticeship: this is why cooperage is also a profession of transmission. A precious know-how that Bollinger is committed to perpetuating. It is by delving into the underground world of the cellars that we fully grasp the importance of time at Bollinger. After their first fermentation in small stainless steel vats or in wood, the wines are bottled in the spring and taken down into the silence of the chalk galleries, where they rest for at least three years for the Special Cuvée, and much more for the vintage vintages. It is this long rest that gives the aromas that rare delicacy, and the bubbles a velvety texture. Each year, some of the best wines join the exceptional collection of 700,000 reserve magnums intended for the Special Cuvée blend. Corked under light foaming, the magnums allow each wine, vintage by vintage, plot by plot, to reveal the finesse of its bouquet, accentuate its roundness and develop its complexity without oxidation. A luxury that gives Bollinger the possibility of letting them mature for many years before using them: the art of reserve here touches the absolute.