Bollinger 2018 Kicks Off Champagne’s Next Great Vintage Run — Boss Hunting

Now, heat like that doesn’t always end well. The last time the region properly cooked, in 2003, a lot of the wines came out too ripe and too soft, missing the freshness that makes champagne taste like champagne. Bollinger didn’t even put the Grande Année name on its 2003, releasing a one-off “2003 by Bollinger” instead.

Unlike 2003, 2018 got lucky. All that winter rain soaked into Champagne’s porous chalky soil and fed the vines throughout the heat of summer, so the grapes ripened without…