Alas, the latest instalment of Bond has been pushed back yet again to the autumn of 2021. So what are die hard 007 fans to do for nine months while their patience is tested by Covid delays yet again? A tipple from Bond’s drinks cabinet might be just the thing to help the months pass.
Although No Time to Die – the 25th film in the 007 canon – is set to be Daniel Craig’s final appearance as our man with the Walther PPK, you can rest assured that it won’t be Bollinger’s. Bolly, you see, has been the preferred fizz – the Official Champagne, no less – for the celluloid Bond since its first ice bucket outing in Moonraker in 1979. Indeed, so proud is Bollinger of its association with the franchise that last year it released 407 magnums of Bollinger 2007 in dramatic, Moonraker-inspired, Eric Berthes-designed, packaging to celebrate the 40 year partnership. An absolute must for any Bond/Bolly lover at, erm, just £4,500 a pop. And, to celebrate this latest movie, we have the specially created Bollinger 007 Limited Edition Millésimé 2011, blended entirely from Pinot Noir harvested from the grand cru village of Ay and presented in jet black bottles adorned with the number 25. These have a slightly more approachable RRP of £150 a bottle.
Of course, in the novels themselves, Bond is as fickle about which champagne he drinks as he is about which girl he beds. In the first in the sequence – Casino Royale – he orders a bottle 1945 Taittinger, only to be persuaded by the sommelier to drink instead the 1943 Blanc de Blanc [sic] Brut from the same House. ‘That is not a well-known brand,’ Bond tells his companion, Vesper Lynd, ‘but it is probably the finest champagne in the world.’ JB later downs a half bottle of Veuve Clicquot whilst beating Le Chiffre at baccarat and by 2am our hero is in the Roi Galant nightclub, quaffing a bottle of same alongside bacon and eggs. He orders a second and, as he pays his bill, takes a last gulp, only to find it tastes bitter ‘…as the first glass too many always does.’
The aforementioned Taittinger features in several other Bond novels and is seen on screen in 1963’s From Russia With Love, you know, the film in which Sean Connery rumbles Robert Shaw’s baddie, Red Grant, after the villain gauchely orders Chianti with his grilled sole. ‘Red wine with fish?’ says 007 in horror. ‘Well that should have told me something.’
Bond knocks back titanic amounts of booze in books and films alike, not only in the form of champagne (Dom Pérignon was an early favourite) but also that of whisky and soda, gin and tonic, dry martini – shaken, not stirred, of course – and umpteen cocktails, of which the Vesper is the most celebrated. Gin, vodka and Kina Lillet combine to make this classic serve, although Lillet Blanc or dry vermouth are frequently swapped in. It’s the first drink Bond orders in Fleming’s 1953 Casino Royale. As always, our hero is very specific with his instructions to the barman: ‘Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel. Got it?’
Heineken have reportedly spent squillions since 2012’s Skyfall ensuring its lager features in the movies, which makes the fact that the Bollinger/Bond partnership has survived these last 40 years simply on a handshake between Christian Bizot, Bollinger’s then-president, and producer Cubby Broccoli – with no money ever having changed hands – all the more remarkable. You can bet your shirt that 007 will save the day again in No Time to Die and that he’ll have sip or two of Bollinger as he does so.
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