Bollinger Brut Blanc de Noirs Champagne V.V. Françaises 2014

99 points Richard Juhlin (The Champagne Club): "(100% Pinot Noir). How long will we be able to enjoy this treasure? You are well aware that the phylloxera louse can any day crawl under the gate and in a flash destroy the two fragile slabs of Clos Saint-Jacques and Clos Chaudes-Terres in Aÿ. This impermanence makes the wine even more treasured and unique, as if its stratospheric quality weren't reason enough to hold the world's finest Blanc de Noirs in high esteem. Tasted directly after the mellow La Côte aux Enfants from the same vintage, I was prepared for VVF to be beaten for the first time by its sibling wine from the same village. When I finished tasting it was clear that I had just tasted the perfect champagne in its style. The champagne combines the honeyed concentration of a Château d´Yquem with the buttery nutty power and sophisticated richness of a Montrachet from Comte Lafon. But my God, Juhlin, it's Pinot Noir. Yes, but the fabulous creation is more reminiscent of the mentioned wines than of a big red Burgundy this time. I don't really know why 2014 was so perfect for Bollinger. Perhaps one has become even more skilled at maneuvering all the details that give a perfect VVF, or does the old theory apply that naturally masculine Bollinger is often at its best in slightly lighter and elegant vintages? In any case, this is a colossal wine experience! The wine belongs to the small few who act with such self-evident weight that comments and comparisons feel redundant. The color is deep golden and the extremely small bubbles move slowly up through the glass. The bouquet is rich, dense and powerful like a rumbling thunderstorm in the distance. Filled with honey and hazelnut essence and screaming scent of honeysuckle. In the mouth you are met by an oily and creamy essence of dark fruit, 70% chocolate from Domori and licorice with the same grilled lemons and apricot marmalade I find in all Bollinger's wines from 2014. Monumental, long, dense and unreal wide like a parade street in Buenos Aires. Drink soon or wait ten years for the next phase. Just as with La Côte aux Enfants, there is a high risk of tunnel behavior for a few years. Right now pure happiness in a champagne glass. (Dec 2024)"

98 points Tyson Stelzer (The Champagne Guide): "(tasted in 2024 in Australia; 100% Aÿ pinot noir; harvested on 11 September at 11 degrees potential; 100% fermented in oak barrels of average age 10-15 years; disgorged March 2024; tiraged on cork; just 1865 numbered bottles; 4g/L dosage). The magnitude of VVF is something to behold, declaring its inimitable presence in a full golden hue and rippling with decadent, voluptuous layers of texture and complexity. Expansive ripeness is flung to the full extremes of quince, golden pineapple, ripe golden kiwi, mirabelle plum, ripe fig and tarte tatin. There is a crystallised lemon character not always present in VVF that Denis Bunner attributes to the freshness of the 2014 vintage. Complexity builds in waves of fruit mince spice, honey, even marmalade. Old oak barrels lend layers of roast nuts, milk chocolate, vanilla custard and buttered toast. Texture rises in a billowing spiral to meet this grand spectacle, at once silky in its deeply creamy mouthfeel and bright and crystalline in its chalk mineral definition. This is a monumental achievement and a grand declaration of Gilles Descôtes’ fanatical wizardry in his first vintage. It is more VVF than it is 2014, a towering monument to the full magnitude of pinot noir in a warming climate, yet proclaiming a magic unique to VVF in delivering grandeur at the outer limits of champagne, while never deviating from unerring accuracy of definition, persistence, life, longevity and shuddering, breathtaking splendour. (2024)"

98 points Antonio Galloni (Vinous): "The 2014 Vieilles Vignes Françaises is a stunning, exotic beauty. Silky contours wrap around a core of apricot, tangerine, orange marmalade, spice, ginger, dried flowers and marzipan. The 2014 is a Champagne of real textural breath and intensity. It's a superb wine in a year that presented numerous challenges along the way. I would prefer to cellar this for a few years. In a word: fabulous. Dosage is 4 grams per liter. Drink: 2026-2044. (Mar 2024)"

96-98 points Essi Avellan, MW: "(100% Pinot Noir). On this overall low potential alcohol year (9.8% being the Champagne average), the Vieilles Vignes Françaises plots displayed their unique terroirs, having been picked between 11 and 11.3%. The deep colour of the wine speaks of ripeness, too. The monumental nose is hugely complex already upon release. Immensely deep aromatics with charred layers, chocolate and roasted nuts intermingling with the ripe orchard fruit core. There is a cool menthol breeze to the nose that develops sweet acacia honey and toffee tones over time in the glass. Full-bodied for sure, the wine’s richness is carried to its long finish by a lovely lemony acid line. Boldly vinous but fresh too, this is a brilliant vintage for VVF. (May 2024)"

96 points William Kelley (Wine Advocate): "After the broad, muscular 2012 and the incisive 2013, Bollinger's 2014 Blanc de Noirs Vieilles Vignes Françaises represents something of a middle ground, with its charming, suave profile and elegant bouquet of crisp yellow orchard fruit, mandarin oil, praline and buttered toast. Medium to full-bodied, pillowy and layered, with impressive depth and density for the vintage but also unusually immediacy for this cuvée, it will offer a broad drinking window. Produced from ungrafted Pinot Noir vines and fermented in old barrels, it represents the ne plus ultra of the Bollinger style. Drink: 2024-2040. (Aug 2024)"

96 points Tom Hewson (Decanter): "Bollinger's extraordinary plots of ungrafted Pinot Noir yield one of Champagne's most unique, rare and deeply flavoured blanc de noirs. The natural brightness of the 2014 vintage is at play, quietly though. Yes the concentrated orange citrus, dried apple and nut oil richness is all there, backed up with layers of maple syrup and brown bread toast, but there's a oyster shell brightness and floral lift too, meeting plenty of tangy acidity. Full of drama and detail. It's a Pinot Noir of undeniable substance. Drinking Window: 2028-2038. (Sep 2024)"