TN: Champagne Billecart-Salmon tasting

[wgilson]

Trade tasting hosted by distributors Domaine Wine Shippers at Jolley’s Boathouse. Beautiful afternoon to be sipping champagne, and I do have a weakness for Billecart. Although I didn’t have pen and paper to hand, I’ll do my best to recall from memory supplemented with details from the handouts.

Extra Brut NV
40% PM / 35% PN / 25% Ch
Zero dosage style. I can be a bit of a fan of extra brut styles, but this one left me feeling a little indifferent. Very much a ‘big house’ attempt at a cutting edge style. Beautifully fine mouthfeel, a little floral, nice aperitif style but ultimately just…uninspiring.

Brut Reserve NV
Missed this somehow. Oh well, not long since I last tried it and it was still good then. Moving on…

Blanc de Blancs 1999
100% Ch
Lovely drop this, and held my interest for quite some time. Delicate, almost ethereal, with a nice spine of minerality to keep things interesting on the tongue. Nice, persistent finish with a little bit of grip that will make it a good pairing for food. This could be worth splashing out on I think.

Brut Rose NV
Ch / PN / PM, % not stated
Decent drop with the signature red berry nose and extra juiciness in the mouth, but altogether brutal after the BdB that preceded it. I didn’t spend long on clocking it’s intricacies but certainly worthy of attention. I’d tap that.

Brut Sous Bois NV
Ch / PM / PN, % not stated
Vinified in old Burgundy oak – very fashionable these days it would appear. I’m very partial to the added richness that this style can deliver, and this was a pretty clever version thereof. Dried fruits and a little rancio on the nose which was certainly interesting. Structured yet elegant in the mouth, pronounced toastiness (well, pronounced by Champagne standards) and very fine beading. Yet…I don’t know. I wanted to like this more. I’ve just seen better examples of the oak fermentation style. Worth a look, but the target audience of wine knobs will find better examples among the Grower fraternity.

Cuvee ‘Nicolas Francois Billecart’ 1998
Ch / PN, % not stated
OK, this is what we came for. What a stunning wine. For anyone looking for what CB-S is capable of at the cuvee deluxe level, this is worth every cent of the not-inconsiderable amount you’ll spend on it. Partial oak vinification to deliver iron-fist-in-velvet-glove power, with gorgeous lemon citrus and white floral notes. Incredible depth and richness on the palate, but with a tension and focus that I’ve not often seen in Champagne. This wine almost literally knocked me backwards.

Demi Sec NV
Ch / PM / PN, % not stated
Ummm…the less said the better here. Probably the victim of my inherent bias against this style, but not many redeeming features anyhow. The best part about this was being offered a second glass of the Sous Bois.

On the whole, this lineup reinforced my existing opinions of Champagne Billecart-Salmon – good wines, generally safe bets and worth my money.