A legal trademark (abbreviation R.D., Recently Disgorged) reserved for the Bollinger Champagne House. It was introduced around 1960 by the former director of the house, Christian Bizot (1928-2002). The "RD" and the exact date on the label indicate that the champagne in question was "recently disgorged". However, the important thing here is not the relatively imprecise term "recently disgorged" (because every champagne has been recently disgorged at some point), but that a champagne labelled in this way was stored for a particularly long time before disgorgement and the fine lees were therefore in contact with the wine for a particularly long time.
A champagne declared as such with a maturation period of at least eight years (up to 50 years in extreme cases) is only produced in very good vintages and only the best wines (Année Rare R.D.) are used. Champagne should normally be savoured as soon as possible after it is released onto the market because, unlike still wine that can be stored, it generally loses quality. The dégorgement date is intended as information in this respect. However, champagnes aged on the lees for a long time hardly lose any quality over the years. In the meantime, however, the dégorgement date is also given by some other Champagne houses; see Mise en cave.
Further information
For the production of alcoholic beverages, see Champagne (sparkling wines), Distillation (distillates), Speciality wines, Spirits (types), Winemaking (wines and wine types) and Wine law (wine law issues).
Picture: Millésima Bordeaux
