Bollinger

Bollinger was founded on 6 February 1829 in Aÿ, when Athanase de Villermont, Paul Renaudin and Jacques Bollinger went into business together as Renaudin-Bollinger & Cie. Villermont, a marquis, asked that his own name stay off the label — which is the only reason the world knows the house as Bollinger rather than Villermont.

For thirty years, from 1941 to 1971, the house was run by Lily Bollinger, one of Champagne's genuine legends. She was known to cycle through the vineyards to check on the harvest herself, and left behind one of the most quoted lines in the region's history: "I drink champagne when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I am alone; and when I have company... But otherwise I do not touch it, except when I am thirsty."

The house style leans hard on Pinot Noir, which makes up 60% of Bollinger's own vineyards and gives the flagship Special Cuvée its weight and structure. This is not a Champagne built to be delicate.

Bollinger is also, by way of a 1978 handshake, the official Champagne of James Bond. Producer Cubby Broccoli met the Bollinger family at their estate, and the two sides struck a deal with no contract and no money changing hands. Bond first ordered a bottle on screen in 1979's Moonraker, and the arrangement has quietly run for more than 45 years since. 007 has shown questionable judgement in nearly every other department, but this, at least, he got right.