From magnum, Bollinger's 1996 La Grande Année is showing superbly, offering aromas of candied orange, peach and iodine mingled with rye bread, praline and roasted cacao bean. On the palate, it is medium- to full-bodied, with taut musculature and the cool profile typical of the vintage, laden with incisive acidity and framed by considerable structuring dry extract, leading into a precise, chalky finish. Complemented by a pinpoint mousse, it shows greater freshness in magnum than in the standard bottle format and still has many years ahead of it. Stylistically, it is unmistakably 1996, but given the house’s decision to harvest late in this high-acid vintage, it is more harmonious than many other examples from the year. Disgorged around 2002, it carries a dosage of seven grams per liter.

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