NV H. Billiot Fils Brut Cuvée de Réserve Grand Cru

The NV Champagne Reserve Brut is 75% Pinot Noir and the rest Chardonnay from the 2016, 2017 and 2018 vintages, raised in stainless steel and on lees for 36 months. The nose is pretty and pure, with fresh grapefruit, delicate red berries, and white flowers. The palate is approachable though it has nice tension to it, with orange pith, tangerine, bread dough, and a touch of saline. It cleans up nicely and is a snappy, refreshing style to drink as an aperitif. Drink over the next 10 years.

Also recommended, but no tasting note given. The Billiots own 15 acres of vines, all in their celebrated home village of Ambonnay. The wines are kept from undergoing malo on the theory that the natural richness and ripeness of Pinot from this commune needs no further rounding out, and will thus benefit from a stronger complementary impression of acidity. But I found the basic Brut I tasted – 75% Pinot and from vintages 2008-2010 – decidedly sweet-sour and awkwardly tart-edged, if incisive and persistent; and it shared with a “Cuvee Julie” tasted alongside a slightly sweaty and stubborn sense of reduction, to which in the case of the latter was added a somewhat ill-integrated resinous note from barriques (at least a small portion of which were new). Importers: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300