Wine Advisor
Billecart Salmon, Brut Reserve NV
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Reserve is finessed in expression of honeyed apricots and freshly baked biscuits. This gorgeous, mid-weight wine showcases the qualities of Meunier, which make up 45% of the blend, while Pinot Noir (30%) and Chardonnay (25%) play a supporting role. This bottling of the Brut Reserve is mostly 2005 juice, with the addition of 20% reserve wines. Lot 71181 21008 A, disgorged in June, 2008. Billecart-Salmon, based in Mareuil-sur-Ay, makes wines in a style that is all about timeless elegance. These Champagnes are characterized by their supreme balance. All of the 2008 vins claires I tasted showed remarkable harmony and transparency of site. Much of the aromatic complexity of the wines can be attributed to a preference towards cold temperatures in fermentation, which keeps the wines fresh. The domaine uses Burgundian oak barrels for a portion of the wines. The exact amount of batonnage and malolactic fermentation depend on the vintage. Prior to being bottled the wines are blended in a large steel tank to insure consistency, something the estate takes very seriously. In general the non-vintage wines receive 7-9 grams of dosage, while the vintage wines have 5-7 grams, depending on the year. Among current releases, I found the 1998s to be brilliant, while the 2000s, from a much more challenging growing season, come across as less refined. The estate does not disclose disgorgement dates, but a code on the foil wrapping can be traced back to a date. Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 332-4999
Reviewed by: William Kelley
Based on the 2018 vintage, Billecart's newly released NV Brut Réserve incorporates fully 53% reserve wines, up from just over a third in the past, and incorporates the usual 40% Pinot Meunier in the blend. Offering up attractive aromas of citrus zest, green apple and freshly baked bread, it's medium to full-bodied, fleshy and charming, with a demonstrative core of fruit and a pretty pinpoint mousse, concluding with a saline finish.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Reserve is a pretty, introspective wine laced with bright, citrus fruit, flowers and minerals. Medium in body, the wine reveals plenty of length and focus, with a crisp, refreshing finish. The Brut Reserve is a great introduction to the elegance of Billecart-Salmon. This is Lot: L 670912 21109M. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2014. The Billecart-Salmon house style is defined by class, elegance, and a sublime freshness to the wines. Long fermentations at cold temperatures with no malolactic fermentation are the rule at this small, family-owned property in Mareuil-sur-Ay. I also had a chance to re-taste the 2000 Brut Cuvee Elisabeth Salmon 2000 Brut Cuvee Nicolas Francois Billecart (reviewed last year). Both wines showed beautifully. Readers will find updated notes on www.erobertparker.com. Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 332-4999
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Reserve is an attractive, easygoing wine with good up-front fruit and an accessible personality. Flowers, dried pears and spices are some of notes that linger on the finish. This is Lot 23813206659A. Disgorged February 2011. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2014. Importer: T. Edward Wines, Ltd., New York, NY; tel. (212) 233-1504
Reviewed by: William Kelley
Based on the 2015 vintage and disgorged with nine grams per liter dosage, the latest release of Billecart's NV Brut Réserve contains fully 55% reserve wines and is showing very well, offering up complex aromas of warm bread, crisp green orchard fruit and citrus oil. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied and charming but lively, with an elegantly textural attack, a fleshy core of fruit and lively balancing acids.
Reviewed by: Yohan Castaing
Based on the 2018 vintage, with 55% of reserve wines, the NV Brut Réserve from Billecart-Salmon is a blend of 40% Pinot Meunier, 30% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, with a dosage of 6.2 grams per liter. It offers a bouquet with aromas of spring flowers, menthol, pastry, brioche, orchard fruits and pear. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is moderately weighted, with a delicate mousse and a perfectly balanced texture. Very charming. It concludes with a saline, aromatic finish. It represents the first stage in the qualitative evolution of the house, initiated by Mathieu Roland-Billecart.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Reserve is a beautiful wine graced with layers of exquisite, mineral laced citrus, pears and white peaches. I suppose this could use a little more length through the mid-palate, but it is nevertheless a strikingly beautiful, pure wine at this price point. This is Lot 28201 03667A. Disgorged May 11, 2010. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2015. This is a fine set of new releases from Billecart-Salmon. I admire these Champagnes for their trademark crystalline purity and exceptional sense of balance. Importer: T. Edward Wines, Ltd., New York, NY; tel. (212) 233-1504
Reviewed by: Stephan Reinhardt
The Billecart-Salmon NV Brut Réserve is a blend of 40% Pinot Meunier (sourced in the Vallée de la Marne and the Coteaux Sud d'Epernay), 30% Chardonnay (from different villages along the Marne) and 30% Pinot Noir (from the Montagne de Reims and the Grande Vallée de la Marne). The recent disgorgement from January 2018 is straw-yellow in color and based 40% on the 2015 harvest, with 60% of reserve wines. The result is a light and delicately fruity flavored cuvée with aromatic and spicy Pinot Meunier and redcurrant aromas intertwined with chalky expressions and notes of ripe pears and yeast. Round and fresh on the palate, this is a light, finessed, elegant, very delicate and harmoniously fruity Brut with a stunningly intense, persistent, well-structured and purely salty finish. Very stimulating as a soloist, aperitif or with lighter dishes. Tasted from lot L 419A701 42836 in November 2018.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Reserve is a tasty, non-vintage Champagne. Orchard fruit, lime, white flowers and white pepper. Silky, creamy and exceptionally polished, the Brut Reserve is a total charmer. All the elements are so well balanced. This release is based on 2019. Dosage is 6.10 grams per liter. Disgorged: 4th quarter 2022.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Réserve is an attractive, easygoing wine with good up-front fruit and an accessible personality. Flowers, dried pears and spices are some of notes that linger on the finish. This is Lot 23813206659A. Disgorged February 2011.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Réserve is a beautiful wine graced with layers of exquisite, mineral laced citrus, pears and white peaches. I suppose this could use a little more length through the mid-palate, but it is nevertheless a strikingly beautiful, pure wine at this price point. This is Lot 28201 03667A. Disgorged May 11th, 2010.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The NV Brut Réserve is a pretty, introspective wine laced with bright, citrus fruit, flowers and minerals. Medium in body, the wine reveals plenty of length and focus, with a crisp, refreshing finish. The Brut Réserve is a great introduction to the elegance of Billecart-Salmon. This is Lot L 670912 21109M.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
(40% pinot meunier, 30% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay; L200352): Light, bright gold. Fresh red berries, orange zest and white flowers on the perfumed nose. Juicy and precise, offering energetic redcurrant and blood orange flavors that show good concentration and a supple texture. A mineral nuance adds bite to the finish, with the floral note echoing.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Pale gold. Fresh peach, pear and nectarine on the nose, with a complicating note of white flowers. Fleshy, plush and ripe, with strong peach and ripe pear flavors in a more powerful and less restrained style than last year's release. Firms up on the finish, picking up a mineral note and showing very good balance and length.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
(lot #608572 13105M on the foil) Bright, pale straw. Cool, fresh and stony on the nose, with pure citrus notes of lime, grapefruit and lemon zest. Firm and tensile on the palate, with excellent focus and tangy, pure flavors of lemon, lime and green apple. Like drinking ice cubes wrapped in barbed wire-but a lot better than that sounds. The most vibrant, tightly wound and flavorful non-vintage brut bottling I tasted this year and a paradigm of the type.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Pale, bright color. Brisk nose melds flowers, sweet spices and hazelnut. Dry, juicy and lively, with enticing, nicely delineated flavors of yellow fruits, nuts and spices. Not a weighty wine but fruity and satisfyingly mouthfilling. Finishes vibrant and persistent.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Spicy aromas of grapefruit and honeysuckle. Fresh and lively on entry, with flavors of apple and honey. Modest body and length. Not bad, but comes across as slightly alcoholic.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Pale color. Vibrant aromas of lemon, lime, apple, chalk and toast. Creamy and light, with notes of lime, mint and toast and slightly elevated acidity. Rather elegantly styled non-vintage brut, brisk on the back end.
Reviewed by: Stephan Reinhardt
Based on the 2020 vintage, this blend of 43% Pinot Meunier, 29% Chardonnay and 28% Pinot Noir, with 71% vins de réserve and 10% perpetual reserve, the NV Brut Réserve offers up aromas of spring flowers, herbs, blossoms, lime and brioche. Medium to full-bodied, tense and precise, with a crystalline texture enhanced by bright acids, this is a long, delicate and ethereal Champagne. It matured 8% in barrels and 36 months on the lees in bottle, followed by six months after disgorgement with three grams per liter dosage.
About the Producer
Founded by Nicolas François Billecart and Elisabeth Salmon in 1818, Billecart-Salmon is one of the few Champagne houses to be owned and managed by the original family. Today, François and Antoine Roland-Billecart continue the family legend, hand-crafting delicate and elegant wines with crystal-clear fidelity, using a technique of cool long fermentation pioneered by the house in 1952. All of the base wines go through a cold settling at 8℃ and a very cold fermentation just under 13℃ that takes between three weeks and a month, which is a longer time frame than other producers. This practice was initiated in 1958, making Billecart-Salmon the first and the only Champagne house to do so at present. One of the highlights of the house is the cuvée created as a tribute to the house’s founders. The Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart is generous, fine and rich, sourced exclusively from the grands crus of Côte des Blancs and Montagne de Reims.
