Bollinger Champagne Grand Cru la Cote aux Enfants 2014 750ml

A luxurious Champagne from start to finish, this is enticing, with pain d'épices, ripe fruit and mineral notes wafting on the nose, while a plush mousse caresses the palate. A skein of fragrant spices winds through a rich panoply of crème de cassis, black cherry, baked pineapple, glazed tangerine peel, toasted raisin bread and honey flavors, all shaped and well-defined by vibrant acidity. Savory smoke and oyster shell accents are a minerally push on the lasting finish. Disgorged February 2024. Drink now through 2040.

While one is unlikely—if not hard-pressed—to find complaints with the 2014 Blanc de Noirs La Côte aux Enfants when enjoyed on its own, it does appear somewhat less harmonious when set against the 2015 and 2013 vintages. Disgorged in February 2024 with a dosage of six grams per liter, it opens from the glass with aromas of ripe pear, beeswax and orange zest. The palate is medium- to full-bodied, vinous and incisive, with an elegantly fleshy core of fruit supported by bright acidity. Lacking both the maturity of vintages such as 2015 and 2012 and the purity of 2013, the 2014 currently seems slightly overshadowed. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if it gains cohesion and depth with further bottle age—in which case, my current score may ultimately prove conservative. As always, the fruit hails from the northwest-facing sector of a vineyard in Aÿ, this time achieving 10.7% potential alcohol prior to harvest.

The 2014 La Côte aux Enfants is a powerful, resonant Champagne. It emerges from north-facing parcels in a site best known for still reds. Kirsch, leather, spice, tobacco, ginger and cinnamon all build in the glass. Readers will find a Champagne that shows the wilder, gamier side of Pinot Noir allied to a good bit of supporting structure. This is a fine effort from Bollinger. Dosage is 6 grams per liter.

The distinctive terroir characteristics are clearly present and its bouquet of spicy fruits with intense aromas of elderflower, black cherry and blueberry. The fruitiness bursts forth, giving way to a rich mouth feel with liquorice and black fruit flavors, rounded out by a great tannic structure.