R.D.
⏳ Drinking Window
2024 - 2050
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted capon with wild mushrooms, aged Comté cheese, creamy mushroom risotto
✨ Technical Specifications
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.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1829 in Aÿ by Hennequin de Villermont, Paul Renaudin, and Jacques Bollinger, Maison Bollinger endures as one of Champagne's preeminent independent, family-owned Grandes Marques. Its identity was indelibly forged under the visionary stewardship of Madame Lily Bollinger in the mid-twentieth century. The estate controls approximately 180 hectares of vineyards, dominated by Grand and Premier Cru parcels across the Montagne de Reims and Vallée de la Marne, rooted in deep Belemnite chalk and limestone. Bollinger is celebrated for its Pinot Noir-centric architectural style, championing vinification in seasoned oak barrels, magnum reserve aging under natural cork, and extensive cellar maturation before disgorgement. The portfolio is epitomized by Special Cuvée and La Grande Année, reaching transcendental complexity in R.D. (Récemment Dégorgé) and the elusive Vieilles Vignes Françaises, produced from ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines trained en foule.
🍇 Grapes
Pinot Noir ~60-70%, Chardonnay ~30-40%
🍷 ABV
12.5%