Bollinger La Cote Aux Enfants Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru 2013 (BH97)

An even more reserved if noticeably more complex nose reluctantly displays its aromas of cool quinine, Granny Smith apples, spice, floral and vaguely exotic tea and toasty bread. The intense and lilting medium weight flavors are supported by a moderately firm but quite fine mousse on the strikingly complex, balanced, youthfully austere and strikingly long finale. This is at once very stylish and classy while offering excellent development potential. In short, this is stunningly good.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 97
While one might have expected the cool, northwest-facing part of this famed Aÿ vineyard to produce a rather unyielding wine in a vintage like this, Bollinger's brilliant 2013 Brut Blanc de Noirs La Côte Aux Enfants is actually easier to understand than the rather more reserved inaugural 2012 release. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of smoky orchard fruit, crisp peach, beeswax, mocha, warm spices and toasted nuts, it's full-bodied, taut and chiseled, with a deep and concentrated core of fruit, a beautifully refined pinpoint mousse and a long, electric finish. All the energy and cut that one could wish for is combined with the house's trademark vinous, complex style to deliver a wine of real character and élan.

Wine Spectator 97
A vinous version, with subtle, savory hints of grilled herbs and tar on the nose, revealing a minerally underpinning to the palate's flavors of black currant, bread dough, saffron, crystallized honey and nuts as they ride the fine, raw silk–like mousse. Focused and powerful, sculpted and well-integrated, with firm acidity. Superlong finish. Disgorged March 2022. Best from 2025 through 2043. 40 cases imported.