R.D.
⏳ wine.drinking_window
Typically best enjoyed 10 to 25+ years from the vintage, ideally within a few years of its disgorgement date to experience the signature R.D. tension.
🍽️ wine.food_pairings
Roasted capon with wild mushrooms, aged Comté cheese, creamy mushroom risotto
✨ wine.spec_sheet
Conceived by the visionary Madame Lily Bollinger in the mid-20th century and first released in 1967, Bollinger R.D. (Récemment Dégorgé) revolutionized the Champagne world. Madame Bollinger had the audacious idea to offer an older vintage that had been aged on its lees for an exceptionally long period and disgorged just prior to release. This method preserves an extraordinary tension between vibrant, youthful freshness and the profound, complex maturity of an aged wine. Sourced predominantly from Grand and Premier Cru vineyards, the blend is fermented in seasoned oak casks, maintaining the house's traditional craftsmanship. Aged under natural cork rather than crown caps, each bottle is hand-riddled and hand-disgorged, receiving a very low dosage (Extra Brut) to allow the pure, majestic character of the terroir and the vintage to shine through.
🍾 wine.about_producer
Founded in 1829 in the historic village of Aÿ by Jacques Bollinger, Paul Renaudin, and Hennequin de Villermont, Champagne Bollinger is one of the region's most prestigious and fiercely independent family-owned houses. Renowned for its Pinot Noir-dominated blends and traditional production methods, Bollinger uniquely ferments its vintage wines in seasoned oak casks and maintains an extensive library of reserve wines aged in magnums under cork. The house's signature style is defined by its rich complexity, structure, and depth, best exemplified by legendary cuvées like Special Cuvée, La Grande Année, and the late-disgorged R.D. Additionally, Bollinger preserves a rare piece of viticultural history with its ungrafted, pre-phylloxera Pinot Noir vines used to produce the ultra-exclusive Vieilles Vignes Françaises.