Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvee "Elisabeth" Rose 2008
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98
Decanter
A superb vintage of this renowned prestige cuvée, this is made from a base of 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay, to which is added 9% of red wine. Despite ageing on its lees for 10 years, it remains almost shockingly youthful, its vividly primary flavours of red cherry, strawberry and nectarine wrapped up in a taut, tense frame. It’s silky in texture and intricately complex on the long, elegantly harmonious finish, underlined by a saline chalkiness, and it demonstrates all the requisite completeness and character for long ageing, promising a slow and dignified evolution to come. – Peter Liem
This is very vinous with aromas of iron, strawberries, old roses and geraniums. So aromatic. Full-bodied, really intense and layered with super dryness and depth. Lots of saline and spicy character at the end, such as clove and pepper, as well as hints of flowers and melted butter. Strawberry tart at the end. 17% in aged oak casks. Blend of 55% pinot noir from six villages (Mareuil sur Ay, Ay, Bouzy, Ambonnay, Verzenay and Verzy) and 45% chardonnay from three Grand Crus (Mesnil sur Oger, Cramant and Chouilly). 9% of the blend is red wine from a parcel in the village of Mareuil sur Ay. Bottled June 2009 and disgorged July 2019. Drink or hold.
Disgorged with seven grams per liter dosage, the 2008 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is one of the finest wines I’ve tasted from Billecart in recent years. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of peach, mandarin oil, warm bread, red berries and petals, it’s full-bodied, deep and vinous, with lovely mid-palate amplitude, terrific concentration and bright girdling acids. In what is quite a tightly wound vintage and from a house whose style is rather understated, this is a dramatic, fleshy wine that concludes with a long, flavorful finish.
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Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvee "Elisabeth" Rose 2009
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98
Decanter
A slightly flinty and vibrant bouquet alongside complex aromas of red berries, herbs and lemon, with fresh menthol notes coming through with some air. The palate is wonderful and elegant, with a vinous texture and a superb, calcareous finish. A blend of 45% Chardonnay and 55% Pinot Noir (including 9% vinified as red wine), this Champagne, which has a dosage of 7g/L, is made for ageing. – Yohan Castaing, Nov 2022
The 2009 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is such a joyous Champagne. Intensely floral and effusive, the 2009 is a real charmer. Kirsch, sweet red cherry fruit, orange peel, mint, chalk and white pepper are all finely woven together. This is an especially brisk style, both for the year and for Billecart. If anything, the dosage feels a bit low here, which gives the wine chiseled contours and a slightly austere personality.
Copper-orange color with aromas of grapefruit pith, cherry stones, dried roses, white pepper, pastries, walnuts and oyster shells. Refined and elegant with pretty, dried red and citrus fruit, layered with subtle spice and toast. Fine bubbles. Dry. 55% pinot noir from Mareuil-sur-Ay and Ay, and 45% Grand Cru chardonnay from Cote des Blancs, with 10% of pinot noir red wine. Dosage 7g/L. Disgorged in July 2021. Drink or hold.
This vintage is still amazingly young, fresh and crisp with only a hint of maturity creeping in at the end.
Incorporating fully 10% still red wine, Billecart’s 2009 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is showing beautifully, delivering fragrant aromas of plums, stone fruits, petals, sweet spices and marzipan. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and elegant, it’s seamless and pillowy, with bright acids and a pure, precise profile, concluding with a bright, saline finish. In 2009, it was vinified entirely in stainless steel.
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Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvee "Elisabeth" Rose 2012
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96
Vinous
The 2012 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elizabeth Salmon offers up hints of red berry fruit, ginger, spice, rosewater, mint and crushed flowers. There is a feeling of classic austerity that runs through the 2012. I would prefer to cellar this for at least a few years, as it is quite reticent at this stage. Chalk, mint, white pepper and bright saline accents linger on the pointed finish. Dosage is 3.8 grams per liter. Disgorged: first trimester 2023.
This has a lovely copper color with aromas of cloves, spiced apples, raspberries, gingerbread and pastries. Delicious yeasty and spicy undertones. Excellent density and focus, with fine and firm bubbles, yet it’s light on its feet and so fresh. Long, chalky and salty at the end. Chardonnay and pinot noir. 3.8g/L dosage. Drink or hold
The magnum presents a hugely engaging sparky, spicy and charry energy.
Sleek and elegant, with a seamless knit, this is finely textured, with the raw silk–like mousse carrying flavors of peach skin, white cherry and toast point that show hints of white blossoms, pickled ginger and oyster shell through the lasting finish. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Disgorged winter-spring 2023 (My Origin 121234). Drink now through 2035.—A.N.
First produced in 1988 and made only in top years, this Champagne is named after the producer’s founder. With age (more than nine years on lees), it has developed a patina of toastiness and roundness. There is a toasty character that chimes with this fine wine’s crisp texture. Drink now. Billecart Salmon USA.
Disgorged in January 2023 with dosage of 3.8 grams per liter, Billecart’s 2012 Rosé Elisabeth Salmon is a dramatic, extroverted wine, soaring from the glass with a bouquet of raspberry, cherry and pink grapefruit mingled with spices and red blossoms. These aromatics usher in a medium- to full-bodied, rich and fleshy palate that is animated by succulent yet vibrant acidity and a sweet-toned core of fruit. The wine concludes with an enveloping, perfumed finish that lingers with considerable persistence. It currently exhibits less depth than the Louis Salmon of the same vintage, leading me to place greater confidence in the latter.
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Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvee "Elisabeth" Rose 2013
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97
Vinous
The 2013 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is a gorgeous, exotic Champagne. Crushed rose petal, mint, hard candy, cinnamon, kirsch, cedar and pipe tobacco all build in the glass. The 2013 boasts striking inner perfume and the textural resonance to match. There’s a touch of new oak sweetness that works so well. A long growing season really helped concentrate flavors. Dosage is 4.4 grams per liter. Disgorged: January 2024.
Very fragrant wildflower honey, citrus, sliced apple, nutmeg and pastry aromas. It’s beautifully fresh and saline on the palate, with fantastic concentration, but in a delicate, silky way. Long, elegant and chalky finish. 53% pinot noir (Ay, Mareuil-sur-Ay (9%) and Bouzy) and 47% chardonnay (Cramant, Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oger). 4.4 g/L dosage. Disgorged January 2024. Drink now or hold.
Disgorged in January 2024 with a dosage of 4.4 grams per liter, the 2013 Rosé Elisabeth Salmon emerges from this cool, late-ripening vintage as a rather giving, generous rendition. It unfurls in the glass with aromas of dried apricot, dark cherry and grapefruit mingled with a subtle hint of mocha. On the palate, it is full-bodied, ample and enveloping, offering a sweetly fruited core underpinned by tangy acidity, culminating in a precise, perfumed finish. This is a fleshy, though somewhat old-fashioned Champagne that, at present, does not quite attain the depth of Louis Salmon of the same vintage; however, it would not be surprising to see it improve considerably with additional time on cork following disgorgement. It is composed of an almost equal blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and was vinified almost entirely in stainless steel, with full malolactic fermentation.
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