Champagne
Neither shaken nor stirred
James Bond’s champagne brand bears the name of a German: when Jacob Bollinger settled down in Champagne, he could not suspect that his wine would one day be imbibed by the Queen and her secret agent. A Franco-British-German cooperation of a very special kind.
By Fanny Laemmel
If there is a typical French product that is known throughout the world, it is champagne. But did you know that Germans played a significant role in its story? Krug, Mumm, Heidsieck, Deutz, Koch, Bollinger ... These major French champagne brands were founded by Germans, who settled around 1800 in Champagne. In addition, another European country was part of the success story of the famous sparkling wine: Great Britain. Since the seventeenth century, it has been importing this special wine, which is fermented in the bottle. Incidentally, we are also indebted to the English for inventing the glass bottle and the cork, which ensure the preservation of the wine. Germany, France, Great Britain: these countries have helped to create one of the most famous champagne brands in the world – Bollinger.
We drove to Aÿ in Champagne to explore the history of this wine, which symbolizes the European adventure called “champagne”.
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Athanase de Villermont was a Frenchman, born in 1763 in Champagne. Jacob (French: Jacques) Bollinger was German, born in 1803 in Württemberg. The former built a huge vineyard near the city of Aÿ, but his aristocratic status prevented him from entering into trade. The latter had business acumen and a thirst for travel, and specialized in the trading of wine from Champagne. In 1829, the two men, together with a third partner, Paul Renaudin, founded a champagne trading house. Eight years later, Jacques Bollinger married the daughter of his business partner Athanase, Louise-Charlotte de Villermont. Their descendants are still at the head of the famous champagne company. The portraits from left to right: Athanase de Villermont, Jacques Bollinger, Joseph-Jacques-Marie Bollinger (Jacques's grandson) and Elisabeth Bollinger (wife of Joseph-Jacques-Marie). She headed the company from 1941 to 1971 and appeared worldwide as an ambassador of Bollinger champagne. -
The Bollinger Winery was founded by Athanase de Villermont; it has been in his family now for five generations, and they have enlarged it. Today Bollinger is one of the few champagne companies that grow a large part of the grapes itself. Sixty per cent of the grapes come from its own vineyards. -
In this photo you can see the vineyard Clos Saint-Jacques, laid out by Jacques Bollinger. Along with another plot of land in the heart Aÿ, its vines were the only ones to defy the vine pest phylloxera, which attacked almost all wineries in the early twentieth century. The vine stock is pinot noir, which is cultivated in a traditional manner and classified as Grand Cru. -
Bollinger is considered the most English of the French champagnes. The Bollinger Winery has been closely connected with the British Isles from the start. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, the brand was exported to England by a Prussian, Ludwig Mentzendorff. He became Jacques Bollinger's representative in London. Success was not long in coming. As early as 1884, Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales conferred a royal warrant upon the champagne, granted only to companies that supply the royal court with goods or services. To this day, Bollinger is one of the official champagne suppliers of the British royal family. -
Something else typically English has made the Bollinger brand known worldwide: James Bond. In several novels and films since 1956, this champagne has been imbibed by the most famous agent "in Her Majesty's Secret Service". The champagne is mentioned for the first time by Ian Fleming in Diamonds Are Forever. -
In the municipality of Aÿ, the Bollinger company has cellars with a total length of seven kilometres. These underground storehouses run under the houses and surrounding wineries. Thousands of bottles mature here into champagne through the long process of fermentation. -
Bottles from the founding years of the Bollinger Champagne Company were recently rediscovered in these cellars under the city of Aÿ: a long Franco-German history that, with British assistance, made this typically French product into a European cultural heritage.
