Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises Prestige

Vieilles Vignes Françaises (VVF) is made from the small surviving plots of ungrafted, pre-phylloxera Pinot Noir vines that Bollinger maintains in Aÿ — Chaudes Terres and Clos Saint-Jacques. The vines are propagated by provignage (layering), the traditional pre-phylloxera method, and the wines they yield are unlike anything else in Champagne: dense, savoury, almost rooty.

Each release runs to a few hundred to a few thousand bottles. The wine is a single-vintage Blanc de Noirs, aged long on lees in the maison's cellars at Aÿ, with a low dosage to keep the focus on the fruit and the texture of the vines themselves.