NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru

Disgorged in June 2024 with a dosage of 3.9 grams per liter and based on the 2018 vintage, supplemented by 37% reserve wines from 2017, 2016 and 2015, Billecart’s NV Le Blanc de Blancs offers up aromas of pear, lemon confit and freshly baked bread mingled with dried flowers. On the palate, it is medium- to full-bodied and fleshy yet vibrant, with a muscular core of fruit and racy acidity framed by chalky extract. It is brighter than one might anticipate for the vintage, though undeniably of lesser concentration than the 2019 rendition. As ever, it is vinified in stainless steel and, for this bottling, is anchored in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, complemented by wines from Chouilly, Cramant and Avize.

The NV Champagne Le Blanc De Blancs Extra Brut is sourced exclusively from Grand Cru villages in the Côte de Blancs, including Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize, Cramant, and Chouilly. The blend comprises 63% from the 2018 vintage, with the remainder consisting of reserve wines from 2015, 2016, and 2017, all aimed at retaining freshness. A bright yellow color, it offers a compact, medium-bodied frame with good intensity and ripeness. It has balanced length and shows off notes of peach, pineapple, and lemon confit. Drink over the coming 10-15 years. It was aged for five years on the lees before disgorgement, 3.9 grams per liter dosage/4.5 total residual sugar. 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.

Very pretty peaches, apple blossoms, honey and chalk on the nose. The palate is chalky and minerally but well integrated and rounded, with silky bubbles and delicious salt and pastry notes lingering. 100% chardonnay with stainless steel vinification. Based on the 2018 vintage, with 37% reserve. 3.9 g/L dosage. Drink now.