NV Bollinger, PN TX17 6x75cl

Wine-Pages.com – 94

Bollinger is renowned as a house that celebrates Pinot Noir – witness their über-expensive Vieilles Vignes Françaises, just like this wine, a Blanc de Noirs. PN TX17 is part of the PN project, celebrating vineyards in areas Bollinger consider as prime Pinot Noir terroirs. From a base of 2017 (though with 48% reserve wines dating back to 2006 in the blend), this comes from the unheralded 1er Cru of Tauxières (with just a smidgeon of fruit from Verzenay and Avenay). Tauxières is known for its limestone and clay soils, and for this wine around 50% was barrel-fermented. The dosage is a lowly 4g/l. I find the nose here particularly attractive. There’s rich biscuit and brioche, but a cedary, almost meaty umami character, ripe stone fruits layered beneath. In the mouth it tensions dramatically: zesty lemon and lime is the spine here, but building around it are toast and mouthfilling peach and ogen melon, but that cedary, wood tannin grip, along with minerals and salts adds significant structure. It’s an extremely intense wine, lingering on fruit, acid and a sense of graphite precision. [01/01/2022]