More than 200 years of innovation, quality, and working with some of the best fruit anywhere in Champagne, Billecart-Salmon owns 100 hectares of its own grapes, and contract out with some of the greatest growers for another 300 hectares – all spread across 40 Grand Cru sites throughout the Champagne region. Their vintage cuvees get the choice picks of the top lots, and this supreme Blanc de Blancs bottling is selected and crafted from the very best of the best in the Côtes des Blancs – 100% Chardonnay coming 60% from Mesnil-sur-Oger, 23% from Cramant, 11% from Chouilly, and 6% from Oiry.

After the wine is vinified in 25% oak casks and 75% tank, most of the lots go through malolactic fermentation to enhance both mouthfeel and complexity. It is then bottled and cellar-aged on the lees for an impressive 11 years before disgorgement and dosage of a light 3.9 grams per liter. This cuvee was named in commemoration of founder Elisabeth Salmon’s brother, Louis, who had a great passion for oenology and was heavily involved in winemaking in the earliest days of the House in the 1800s. Grown in a vintage considered to be legendary, this is a prodigious wine in more ways than one.

The wine immediately draws you in – a pale yellow color greets the eye, with splendid flecks of green. The nose is a ripe banana with a succulent bit of bruised yellow apples, and after a while, a chalk-laden essence comes to the fore. On the palate, the wine is structured, pulling the acid and fruit profiles together seamlessly. This is effortlessly elegant, with a mineral thread that elevates this wine, as well as delightful notes of golden kiwi, pineapples, and Buddha’s Hand citron. This is a Blanc de Blancs that lives up to its tete de cuvee status at every turn – it is youthful and layered, capable of aging for years to come, and at the end of it all… a spectacularly worthy example of the best of the best for Billecart-Salmon. We have excruciatingly limited numbers that we fully expect to sell-out before day’s end. With complimentary shipping on two or more bottles – get yours while they last!