Do you know how the R.D. was born? Madame Lily Bollinger used to go down from time to time in the cellar and have an old vintage still on the lees gorgiare à la volée, which she then tasted on the spot. From this habit she came up with the idea of replicating something like this also for Bollinger fans, albeit in limited quantities, and so the R.D. saw the light.
The name R.D., which stands for ‘récemment dégorgé’.
It is the result of grapes selected in only 14 villages of the Marne, of which 91% classified Grand Cru and the other Premier Cru. After blending, the champagne matured with the cork (bouchon liège) for 12 years and finally, as usual for the label, it was dosed at 3 g/l.
“all R.D. have been La Grande Année, but not all La Grande Année will be R.D.”