2008 Bollinger R.D. Extra Brut Champagne 750 ml

• 2008
• France
• Champagne

• The Story

  In Champagne, vintages like 2008 only come around once every 50 years or so: Wine Advocate rated the vintage 99 points, its highest of all time (since 1970). Champagne guru Richard Juhlin wrote that it is “An absolutely wonderful vintage that has it all!...My initial reaction was that this was the vintage where you should purchase everything available.” In that historic season, Bollinger made one of the finest bottles in the region: the 2008 R.D. spent a staggering 14 years on its fine lees, under cork, and was hand-disgorged in 2022. Jeb Dunnuck named it #37 in his Top 100 Wines of 2023, calling it “a stunner…this is a wine to cellar for the ages.” “The wine is brilliant,” wrote Wine Advocate, awarding the same 98+ score as Krug’s Clos du Mesnil ($2,500).

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• Wine Facts
  • Fruit Intensity
  • Oak Intensity
  • Body
  • Sweetness
  • Acidity

  • ABV 12.50%
  • Enjoy right away
  • Now - 2040
  • 71% Pinot Noir
    29% Chardonnay
  • Serving temperature - 45°
  • Cork
• Wine Access Tasting Note

  Brilliant crystal, with brassy highlights. The ever-evolving nose leads with blanched almonds, citrus zest, biscuit dough, dried pineapple, and dried flowers, moving to brioche, hazelnuts, and apple skins. The palate displays an even greater range of flavor, with dried apricot, nut butter, baking spice, graham cracker, and sea salt. The texture is racy and compact, with pointed acidity and a mouthwatering finish. Drink now–2040.

• Food Pairings
  • Dessert
  • Vegetables
  • Soft Cheese
  • Shellfish
  • Fish
  • White Meat
• Critic Reviews

  99 pts

  James Suckling

  Amazing aromas of sweet uncooked pie crust with almonds. Then you smell dried apples, apricots and pineapple. Grilled fruits, too. Full-bodied. So tangy and energetic with sizzling acidity and creamy tannins. Flavorful and lightly oxidized at the finish. Smacking my lips. Agile. Ginger and spices. A touch of bitter complexity with some salinity. Extreme character that grabs your attention. 13 years and six months aging on the lees with cork. 3 grams dosage. 71% pinot noir and 29% chardonnay. Don’t serve too cold. Drink or hold.

  98+ pts

  Wine Advocate

  When I was tasting Bollinger's brilliant Grande Année in this vintage, I was trying to imagine how good the 2008 Extra-Brut R. D. would be, as the style of the vintage seems almost perfectly adapted to this cuvée. Four years later, we have the answer, and the wine is brilliant. Disgorged in 2022, it's more reserved out of the gates than the dramatic Grande Année was on release, unwinding in the glass with notes of crisp orchard fruit, orange peel, freshly baked bread, subtle hints of fino sherry, wet stones and macadamia nut. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, with a deep core of fruit that's animated by racy acids and a refined pinpoint mousse, concluding with a bone-dry finish. Extremely harmonious and full of youthful energy, it's the finest R. D. of the decade and one that will richly reward a bit of additional age on cork. In style, the most obvious comparison is with the 1996, but the 2008 is more integrated and harmonious on release. These bottles were disgorged late last year with three grams per liter dosage.

  98 pts

  Jeb Dunnuck

  The 2008 Champagne R.D. Extra Brut is chiseled, powerful, and packaged with a chalky mineral texture. Made from 70% Pinot Noir and the rest Chardonnay, with 3 grams per liter dosage, it pours a bright straw yellow hue, while its aromatics are more mineral-tinged and feel a touch more noble and upright in character. Aromatically, it opens to notes of toasted almond, preserved Meyer lemon, brothy saline, and vibrant fresh fruit. Displaying tension and grace, it has the richness of Bollinger but is more upright, with an electric mineral energy that courses through the finish, which lasts for days. Mouthwatering and long, it’s a stunner. It needs more time to harmonize all its components, but this is a wine to cellar for the ages, and I think this is going to be a vintage of RD we talk about for a very, very long time. Cellar it if you can and drink 2026-2056. Disgorged December 2022. #37, Top 100 Wines of 2023.