What Makes a Champagne Vintage Great? Ask a Deep Learning Model

In early 2021, Bollinger's winemakers were able to get their first taste of La Grande Année 2014, a prestige fizz that had been aging in the champagne house's cellars since it was blended. La Grande Année, Bollinger's flagship vintage champagne, is produced only in years when the broad quality is deemed sufficiently high, and enjoys seven years of aging under cork before it's launched. Ahead of opening up the 2014 vintage, questions lingered over just how strong a year it really was, given a roller-coaster growing season that saw record-breaking heat in June followed by a cold, wet summer that slowed grape maturation. Moreover, for a champagne house known for its forthright pinot noir character, it was a vintage that distinctly favored chardonnay. But for Denis Bunner, Bollinger's deputy head winemaker (or chef de cave), the answer was clear-cut even before the bottles were opened.