As the UK continues to bask in its new, seemingly Mediterranean climate, it feels only right to reach for a tipple built for long, golden afternoons. Summer tables filled with fresh, light dishes like pan-fried scallops, roast turbot or even an apricot tart warrant an equally refined companion. Bollinger’s exceptional new PN AYC21 delivers precisely that.
Champagne Bollinger’s Latest Pinot Noir Cuvée
Words by
Sphere Editors
16th July 2026
Bollinger unveils PN AYC21, a 100 per cent Pinot Noir from the Aÿ terroir. SPHERE's Lisa Barnard sampled the golden, quince-scented cuvée at a lunch at JUL's.
The PN AYC21. ©Champagne Bollinger.
Born from the chalky Aÿ terroir, with grapes also drawn from the prestigious crus of Tauxières and Mutigny, PN AYC21 is a 100 per cent Pinot Noir cuvée, which accounts for a large amount of Bollinger’s family-owned vines planted around the Montagne de Reims.
Cyril Delarue, 6th-generation winemaker and Bollinger family member with Lisa Barnard, ILN CEO and SPHERE Digital Editor.
In celebration of the launch, ILN CEO and SPHERE Digital Editor, Lisa Barnard, attended a lunch at JUL’s in St James’s to sample PN AYC21 alongside platters of buttery Dover sole, succulent roasted lamb and more, all showcasing the best Mediterranean produce.
The JUL's menu for the PN AYC21 launch lunch.
To the eye, it’s a golden yellow; to the nose, it reveals aromas of ripe quince and Mirabelle plum, complemented by notes of toasted nuts, and on the palate, there’s a creaminess and lively freshness that coexist, all the while revealing a lingering blood orange flavour.
Cyril Delarue speaking at the lunch launch event. ©Champagne Bollinger.
Cyril Delarue, sixth-generation Bollinger family member and Director of Business Development, at the event noted the measures the Maison is looking to innovate ahead of its 200th anniversary in 2029, and as such made the move to dedicate an entire range to Pinot Noir. Speaking of the 2021 vintage, due to the cold weather extending well into Spring, followed by a super-hot summer (“we were all sunburned”), Cyril described it as “traumatic”. Instead of opting to create a vintage Champagne from this harvest, Champagne Bollinger chose to channel it into the PN range instead.
Victoria Carfantan, Director of Champagne Bollinger holding the SPHERE summer magazine and Cyril Delarue, Director of Business Development
What resulted, however, from the historically low yield was a scarcity of grapes with exceptional concentration and character. Yet another reminder of the quality that can be derived from adversity.
Sampling the PN AYC21 at JUL's in St James's. ©Champagne Bollinger.
The PN AYC21 is the seventh in the range, which was originally designed to highlight the many different expressions of this iconic variety by showing how it expresses itself when grown on the finest Pinot Noir terroirs in the region. Each bottle is blended with different reserve wines, 25 per cent of which are magnum-aged reserve wines, creating the exceptional balance characteristic of the Bollinger style.
The PN AYC21 bottle - the seventh in Champagne Bollinger's Pinot Noir range. ©Champagne Bollinger.
Charles Armand de Belenet, Managing Director of Champagne Bollinger says: “This cuvée, made entirely from Pinot Noir, is part of what makes up the essence, the DNA, of our Maison: it represents a singular vision of our trademark grape variety as well as the uncompromising work we have invested in fulfilling a mission that has been inspiring us since 1829, the quest to become creators of style.”
PN AYC21 is served best chilled, between 10 and 11°C, to allow its layered character to unfold.
