Bollinger is one of the rare grandes marques producing Champagne at the level of the finest growers bold, powerful, luxurious, and unmistakably itself. R.D. stands for Recemment Degorge: the same base wine as the Grande Annee, but held on its lees for vastly longer before disgorgement. This is the 3rd disgorgement of the 2008 meaning the wine spent roughly seventeen years on lees, an extraordinary stretch even by Bollinger’s standards. The blend leans Pinot Noir from the house’s own vineyards in Ay and Verzenay, with Chardonnay from Grand Crus Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Cramant, hand-riddled and aged in barrels that Bollinger’s own resident cooper the only one in Champagne maintains. 2008 is one of the great Champagne vintages of the century, with the high acid and structure to carry this kind of aging without flagging. Marzipan, stewed apricot, acacia honey, hazelnut, wet stones, fino-sherry hints the full register of mature Champagne, but with the mousse still alive and the finish bone-dry. The longtime favorite of one James Bond.