NV Billecart Salmon Brut Reserve

Magnum. Origin 191406: 41% Pinot Meunier, 31% Chardonnay, 28% Pinot Noir. 40% 2019 and 60% older vintages back to 2006. 8% fermented in oak. Partial malo. Disgorgement late 2024 with dosage just 2.6 g/l.  Extremely brisk and fresh with just a touch of autolysis on the nose. Very much an aperitif champagne with some complexity and definite confidence. Good balance despite the low dosage. (JR)

Built on the 2020 base, the NV Champagne Le Réservé Extra Brut features a copper hue and is a blend of 43% Meunier, 28% Pinot Noir, and 29% Chardonnay. I have written about the evolution of this wine over the past two years, and I continue to be highly impressed with what they are achieving. To achieve greater complexity and overall balance in the wine, they have lowered the dosage while increasing the use of reserve wine to 71%, half of which comes from a perpetual reserve established in 2006. They have also increased the aging time to 50 months on the lees (an additional six months from the previous release). It is attractive and fresh, with elegant spice, pure stone fruit, fresh pastry, and notes of orange blossoms. The palate is medium to full-bodied, with appealing verticality, a peppery mousse, and a precise and refreshing finish. Bravo. 3 grams per liter dosage. Drink 2025-2035. The Billecart-Salmon wines in this report were tasted with Cellar Master Florent Nys at the estate in Maureuil-sur-Aÿ. Alongside Mathieu Roland-Billecart, who assumed the position of CEO at this estate in 2019 and represents the seventh generation in his family, they are making notable and steady-handed improvements that are starting to shine. A full conversion to organic viticulture has been completed in the monopole vineyard of Clos Saint-Hillaire, with an emphasis on taking things even further in terms of biodiversity and experimentation with biodynamics. They have also taken steps toward further transparency regarding dosage, but recognizing that dosage is only part of the story, they have been including the total residual sugar of the wine in addition to what was added after disgorgement. They source from approximately 300 hectares of vines, a third of which they own, and those 100 hectares have also been certified organic as of 2024. French and Stockinger barrels with medium toast are purchased new and seasoned in-house for three to five years before use. About 80% of production is fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks. Only the finest plots are fermented in barrels at cold temperatures before being transferred to stainless steel tanks for aging, a process that typically takes no more than six months. For this year’s release of Le Rendez-Vous, the estate has offered two expressions of 100% Meunier with No. 7 and No. 8. Both wines highlight the same vintage of 2018 but the expression of two different terroirs. No. 7 comes from Venteuil on the right bank of Vallée de la Marne, soils rich in clay and the rest chalk, with south exposition there. The No. 8 is from the left bank of the Valle de la Marne in Leuvrigny, where the soil is chalk with an east exposure, meaning it is fresher by comparison. Disgorged the same day, the two wines were aged for 63 months on the lees. In the cellar, they blocked malolactic fermentation in No. 7 due to its already rich character after alcoholic fermentation, but allowed it in No. 8, as it was fresher and more vertical in character.

Based on the 2020 vintage (the youngest vintage serves as the “base” of a bottling, even if it does not represent the majority of the blend) and incorporating 71% reserve wines—half stored as individual vintages and the other half as a perpetual reserve initiated in 2006—Billecart-Salmon’s latest NV Le Réserve is showing nicely. It offers aromas of green pear, honeysuckle, brioche and white peach. Disgorged in early 2024 with a dosage of three grams per liter, this reimagined cuvée has recently undergone a significant reduction in dosage. The sweetness that so often presents itself on the finish of NV Champagnes from Grandes Marques is no more. Medium to full-bodied, lively and charming, with a textural attack and vibrant acidity, it culminates in a long, precise finish. This reinvented cuvée replaces the Brut Réserve and, beyond the lowered dosage, sees a stricter fruit selection, an additional 20 months of aging sur lattes (now totaling 50 months) and an increased proportion of the perpetual reserve.