Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Sous Bois NV 1.5L

Composition: This unique cuvée, entirely vinified in oak, is respectfully composed of the three champenois grape varieties. It totally masters the art of blending by renewing the ancestral spirit and savoir faire of the original Champagnes.

Appearance: A radiant yellow crystalline appearance with golden glints brought to life by a luminous bead of persistent fine bubbles.

Aroma: 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.

Palate: The caressing and refreshing texture enhances the creamy sensation, dominated by a beautiful bracing vivacity. A burst of flavours (notes of grilled brioche, toffee) thanks to the distinguished power an maturity which is a mark of the great wines of Champagne.

95pts Wine Enthusiast

“Fermented in wood, this mature and rich Champagne is sophisticated and stylish. It has a rich, full-bodied character with hints of spice as well as dry, citrus fruits. It has a steely core, showing a taut texture as well as some maturity. Ready to drink, it will also age in bottle.”

94pts James Suckling

“This sees some time in wood and that adds a very attractive, savory edge to the typically vibrant Billecart attitude. There’s such intense blood-orange, lemon and fresh, zesty citrus fruit on offer here that really sings.

The palate is scintillatingly fresh and has an extra layer of velvet at the edge. Drink or hold. (9/19)”

93pts Wine Spectator– N/V vintage

A rich Champagne, with a smoky overtone of frosted brioche and grilled nut notes deftly reined in by firm, focusing acidity.  The finely detailed mousse carries flavors of poached pear, black cherry, and Mandarin orange peel, and the racy finish shows a lasting tang of salinity.  Feels like white Burgundy with bubbles.  Drink now through 2027.

94pts James Suckling– NV vintage

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. 

94pts Wine Spectator– NV vintage

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.

92+pts Wine Advocate– N/V vintage

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.

92+pts Wine Advocate – N/V Vintage

Based on the 2014 vintage, the NV Brut Sous Bois derives from oldvines, most of which are massale selections, vinified in old barrels.Wafting from the glass with aromas of green apple and crisp whitepeach mingled with freshly baked bread, buttery pastry, toasted nutsand flowers, it’s medium to full-bodied, taut and chalky, with a crispcore of fruit underpinned by a tangy spine of acidity. A serious, tightlywound wine, even after seven years sur lattes, it will reward a bit ofadditional age on cork.