This goes from zero to 60 right out of the gate, with an intense spine of acidity driving tightly meshed flavors of crushed black currant, ground coffee, candied grapefruit peel and toasted almond. The profile expands on the palate, carried by the fine, raw silk–like mousse. Richly aromatic and expressive from start to lasting, spiced finish. Disgorged July 2019. Drink now through 2037. — A.N.

While the 2012 La Grande Annee doesn't match the magical 2008, it's not far off and has a similar purity and elegance. Beautiful notes of white flowers, white grapefruit, salty minerality, sliced apple, and hazelnut nuances all emerge on the nose, and this beauty hits the palate with medium-bodied richness, plenty of mid-palate concentration, bright yet integrated acidity, and a beautiful finish. This gains depth and richness with time in the glass but really needs 2-4 years of bottle age and should easily evolve for 20+ years in cold cellars.

A selection of pinot noir from Aÿ and Verzenay (65 percent of the blend) with chardonnay from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oiry, this wine ferments and ages in oak barrels and large casks, followed by extended aging on the lees in bottle. There’s an immediacy to its bubbles, and a scent that is immediately awesome—lemon blossom, lemon verbena and something exotic, like Buddha’s hand. The flavors are classical, expanding outward as the wine develops with air, potent, salty and long. Once it’s gone, you can smell the ghost of oak in the empty glass, even if it wasn’t overt in the wine. This is a structured and long-lived 2012.

Still young for a wine of this caliber, this rich Champagne has an immense future ahead of it. The freshness of the wine will mature into the rich toastiness that is such a hallmark of this brand. Oak fermentation and aging have added to the great promise of this fine wine. Drink from 2022. ROGER VOSS

This makes a bold statement. Ripe, powerful and creamy with concentrated red-berry, nectarine, grapefruit and cashew aromas. I love the juiciness and brightness of this wine, which has such a long, graceful finish. Only 65% pinot noir, but it tastes like a lot more. 100% barrel fermentation and maturation. Drink or hold.

Bollinger’s return to form continues. The oxidative style is present and correct, yet its character now comes (as it did historically) from its oak fermentation instead of oxidation from a lack of protection at disgorgement. The nose offers an overt bouquet of ripe pear with nutty overtones. The vanilla spice of oak is also present. On the palate, the firmness of the fruit is spliced with juicy apricots. Possessed with dazzling chalky acidity, this champagne retains a degree of crispness and the dry extract on the finish indicates a long life ahead.

Disgorged in July 2019, Bollinger's 2012 Brut La Grande Année is showing well, offering up an incipiently complex bouquet of crisp yellow orchard fruit, fresh peach, orange oil, toasted walnuts and dried apricot that's still quite reserved with less than a year on cork. Full-bodied, deep and muscular, the 2012 is blockier and broader-shouldered than its 2008 predecessor, with a weightier and even more concentrated palate built around a bright spine of acidity, concluding with a chalky finish that carries appreciably dry extract. This isn't quite as elegant as the exquisite 2008, but it is a superb effort and obviously built to age. - William Kelley

Texture is key here, with a fruit basket of indulgence tempting the senses, the predominant Pinot Noir adding plums, cherry and hints of cedar to the creamy, toasty core that has been bequeathed by the barrel fermentation. Energetic, vital and brimming with potential, its 8g/l of sugar is lightly worn. This is a seductive Grande Année, hard to resist in its youth but far from lacking gravitas and matière to secure a happy development. (Drink between 2020-2030)