Producer | Billecart-Salmon |
Country | France |
Region | Champagne |
Varietal | Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir |
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94 James Suckling: A dense Champagne with a tight and linear structure. Compressed and very pretty. Hints of nuts and cream with some pie crust. Some nougat, too. Very long and flavorful. It’s one for a meal. One third of pinot meunier, pinot noir and chardonnay. Fermented and aged in barrel for about six months. Disgorged July 19, 2020. It’s aged six years on lees. Drink or hold.
A radiant yellow crystalline appearance with golden glints brought to life by a luminous bead of persistent fine bubbles. There is an olfactory impact due to the richness of harmonious expressions (dry fruits, fresh citrus, and white fruits) coupled with finely buttered seductive notes. A defined aromatic undertone which expresses the mature complexity linked to the vinification in oak barrels.
The caressing and refreshing texture enhance the creamy sensation, dominated by a beautiful bracing vivacity. A burst of flavors (notes of grilled brioche, toffee) thanks to the distinguished power and maturity which is a mark of the great wines of Champagne.
Fermented and aged briefly in wood, this is dry, intense and toasty while still giving space for white fruits and some citrus. Richly endowed, spicy, and tangy, its structure and tight texture mark it out as a Champagne for long-term aging. The aftertaste is brisk, packed with acidity and with reminiscences of the oak-aging in the vanilla finish. Drink this bottling from 2018.
A finely honed, mouthwatering Champagne, featuring a minerally underpinning of saline and chalk accents. Lacy in texture, offering wild cherry and pear fruit flavors, with toast point, lime blossom and lemon pastry cream notes. Drink now through 2025.
The latest release of Billecart's NV Brut Sous Bois is excellent, unwinding in the glass with notes of lemon oil, crisp stone fruit, buttery pastry and freshly baked bread. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and elegantly vinous, with chalky phenolic structure and an enlivening pillowy mousse, it's impressively deep and concentrated, with fine tension and grip. Early renditions of this cuvée tended to be at their best on release, but this impressive effort appears to be built to age. Rating : 92+
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