Champagne Billecart-Salmon, Réserve

Disgorged late 2019. 9 grams per litre dosage. Origin number 161233.

The first wine tasted in a short vertical to highlight the evolution of the NV Champagne Brut over the past several years, this release is from the 2016 vintage and is composed of 44% Meunier and 28% each Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with 64% reserve wine, with 4% cask ageing. Pouring a rich straw hue, it opens to generous and lightly toasty aromas of ripe red berries, caramel, and honeycomb.

Medium to full-bodied, it’s ripe, rounded, expressive, and approachable, although it feels the touch of dosage in its texture and the suggestion of sweetness. Its fruit is ripe and long on the palate, with a hint of walnut skin on the long finish. It is certainly the classic, old-school style, and compared to the other wines, it has a bit broader shoulders. Its toasty touch likely comes from the malolactic fermentation permitted instead of oak.

Drink 2023 - 2030

Audrey Frick, JebDunnuck.com (November 2023)