Billiot certainly isn’t a dead ringer for Bolly SC but I find it has the same bassy notes, albeit missing that doughy/yeasty quality. I don’t think there really is an equivalent producer, love or hate Bolly.
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Bollinger’s classic style to me has always been about great structure, a mix of fruit, touches of biscuit and a zesty, spicy, nuttiness that really came through towards the end of the palate and across the finish. The use of reserve wines aged in magnum and some wines made in old oak barrels gave this wine touches of age and oxidation that were a nice signature. Add in the use of all three main grape types (though a majority Pinot Noir and heavily Pinot oriented) and a base wine that really was a fairly even mix of two consecutive vintages and you have a high level oveview of some of where this wine came from.
In the past, I found De Meric’s wines to be somewhat similar to Bollinger, but often a bit bolder with more biscuit and Pinot Noir expression. Of course, De Meric is essentially no more so you can’t really go that route. Henri Billiot also used to have some similarities in the NV Brut Reserve in regards to zesty, spicy, structured, and fruity, but over the past few years, the wine has sharpened up a bit and is more precise and fruit driven. IMO, this is a result of Laetitia cleaning up some of her father’s work and changing the dosage to be more clean.
The closest I can think of today was mentioned above - Alexandre Filaine (which is run by Fabrice Gass). He worked at Bollinger, uses Bollinger’s old barrels, uses all three main grape types with a majority of the Pinots, and the wine is a blend of two consecutive years. There is a spicy, nutty, zesty, fruity, lively character to his wines that definitely invokes the classic Bollinger style. It isn’t a copy of the wine, but the similiarity is definitely there. The only issue is that the wines can be hard to find (annual production is only around 5k bottles) and the one that resembles Bollinger Special Cuvee the most is his DMY which is often more expensive (depending on where you source). Alexandre Filaine’s Cuvee Speciale is more price equivalent and also a good comparison, but sometimes comes across as a touch young to me.
* Edited for calling Alexandre Filaine, Alexander Filaine and to point out that Fabrice Gass is the man behind the Alexandre Filaine label.
Gene would agree Vimart is usually right there with Bollinger.
Interesting. I love Bolly and I love Vilmart, but I would never think of them as stylistically similar.
Time to do a side by side.
report those results!
It is our go to NV. I bought several cases of it last year when it was offered at $39.99 per bottle. Hard to pass up. Now if that offer would just come around again, I could restock.
All very interesting and useful responses. The general gist seems to support why we asked the question in the first place - there are lots of better (IMO) champagnes at a similar price point, but no, or at least few, better champagnes that have a roughly similar style. Quite interesting.
If it can’t be done, it can’t be done. I’ll just have to open two bottles of Boulard instead. 
Good price. Best I have seen it in Minneapolis is $60 lately.
Yeah, $40 is a crazy price that I would guess came from a distributor closeout. ~$60 seems to have been the generally low price for a while now, and I think it’s well worth it.
Interesting. I don’t agree that there are lots of better Champagnes at a similar price point. I would go so far as to say I think Bollinger is one of the standouts. I’d be very interested to know what you think is better around this price. Maybe I’ll try something interesting and change my mind. Or maybe we just disagree, but I’m curious. Also, how much do you like the Bollinger style? I totally understand that some people don’t prefer it. It’s very distinctive. I think which disgorgement you have can make a big difference with this wine. What are your thoughts on that? I remember one from maybe about 3 years ago that was really exceptional.
Completely agree. I actually have a hard time thinking of that many smaller producers that do a style similar to Bolly SC. Bolly just kills that style and it takes some more capital to do it that way than most smaller producers have
I really see no similarity whatsoever with Gosset and Bollinger, apart from them both being Champagne.
There may be issues with your palate on this one, Otto.
Sure, easy. Without even thinking too much about it or checking price, though I think these are all roughly equivalent:
Diebolt-Vallois Prestige obliterates it, objectively in my opinion, especially in magnum
Boulard Murgiers and Grand Montagne (or whatever it’s called now)
Pierre Peters Cuvee Reserve
Hebrart Blanc de Blancs, though it’s close
Lilbert Perle and even the entry level
De Sousa Cuvee de Caudelies blows it out of the water
Larmandier-Bernier Longitude and Latitude
Several Special Club vintage bottlings are roughly similar in price if you buy in France, and are far superior
Given time, I’m sure I’d come up with more…
And for the record I LOVE the Bollinger style. I own a great deal of Grande Annee, including rose, RD and even VVF. That’s why I asked the question in the first place - because I adore the style, but think the Special Cuvee isn’t as good as it should be. I think it should be delivering at a higher level than it does.
I don’t know which disgorgement this particular bottle was, as it didn’t say and the QR code gave me nothing. But I’ve had a number of different disgorgements with plenty of age in many cases.
Haven’t had Bolly in awhile, but I’m drinking one as I write this from a case that I’ve had for at least 3 years. If I have a criticism, it’s that it’s too “clean”, with the oxidative characteristic not as pronounced as I remember or like it to be.
For the WDC extreme coupon crowd, they usually have it for $59.99, making it a great deal even with the $20 off $50s. Using the $50 off $150s and combined with addition cash back (10-20% RMN), definitely well worth it.
Until recently they were both headquartered in Ay. Does that count? ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
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For the nutty oxidative characteristic, Gatinois.
Not sure if it comes in 1.5L
Oh yes, this as well. 
But from what I’ve recently heard, it’s just my palate, so I guess they must be very similar wines after all. Probably need to go and check my palate somewhere, because that’s something I’ve never experienced myself, but yeah, live and learn.
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It might be.
However, apart from them tasting nothing like each other, let’s see some techy details:
Bollinger: Pinot Noir-heavy, Gosset: either Chardonnay-driven or pretty much 50-50 blend
Bollinger: the base wines go through MLF, Gosset: no MLF
Bollinger: the base wine is partially aged oxidatively in oak, Gosset: the base wine is aged reductively in stainless steel
Bollinger: the reserve wines are aged sur lattes in magnums, Gosset: the reserve wines are aged in stainless steel
Bollinger: the wine is aged sur lattes for approximately 3 years before disgorgement, Gosset: the wine is aged sur lattes for approximately 2 years
etc.
So yes, it certainly might be only my palate that is tasting the difference, but also I’d want to point out that according to these above facts, the wines represent almost two almost polar opposites of the classic NV Champagne styles, so I hope I’m not the only one here who thinks Bollinger Special Cuvée is nothing like Gosset NV.
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