Drink Bubbles Like James Bond

Hint: 007 doesn’t do Dom.

Bollinger Champagne Spectre Special Edition The whole idea around aping the choices of James Bond can seem a bit sophomoric…and yet every time a new movie comes around, there’s some primal pull to start living a bit more like the super spy with a government salary and extravagant tastes. The key is to know which accoutrements are truly James Bond-inspired and which are bald money grabs. When in doubt go to the source material—Ian Fleming, a man who parlayed his success into a life of tremendous discernment. Would his James Bond use James Bond Cologne? I think not. (He favoured Floris No.89 if you’re curious.) But I think it’s fair to say that he drank more Bollinger than any other civil servant in history, a trend that continues in Spectre. In that film, he goes for the 2002 Bollinger RD ($297), a bottle that coincidently shows up in our upcoming December issue as Cactus Club’s Sebastien Le Goff’s choice for New Year’s Eve (it’s one of the greatest bottles of Champagne you can buy in the West). But if you want to go full 007, Bollinger has you covered with this Special Edition, which is a serious bottle in its own right. It’s from the excellent 2009 vintage and is pinot noir-dominant but has the signature Bollinger elegance (like the famous James Bond elegance minus, the misogyny). It’s cheaper than an Aston Martin and safer than a Walther PPK—at least in small doses.