Bollinger, family-owned Champagne house producing a range of top-quality wines based on Pinot Noir grapes. Bollinger was formed from the de Villermont family’s holdings in the village of Aÿ near Epernay, where the company is still based. In 1829, Jacques Joseph Placide Bollinger formed a partnership with Amiral Comte Athanase Louis Emmanuel de Villermont and Paul-Joseph Renaudin to form the house of Champagne Renaudin, Bollinger & Cie. In 1837, Jacques Bollinger married de Villermont’s daughter Louise Charlotte and became a French citizen. In 1865, the house started to ship low-dosage champagne to Britain, which was unusual for a period in which most champagne reaching the country was sweet. Champagne Bollinger received the Royal Warrant as Official Purveyor of Champagne to Queen Victoria in 1884.
