Meet the new boss of Billecart-Salmon Champagne
Four cuvées on tasting this Friday with Mathieu Roland-Billecart
It is one of our favourite Champagnes, and among the very select few lines we've had in stock since we opened back in 1994. Nico Billecart even did an internship with us. 200 years and seven generations after it was founded, Billecart-Salmon is one of the few major Champagne houses to remain family-owned, and their commitment to quality has been a constant over the years. It shines through in the precision, finesse and elegance of their Champagnes.
Their Brut Reserve depends on an unsually high proportion of reserve wines from older releases, making for a Champagne with much more depth and complexity than most houses' equivalent offerings. Yet it is the rosé which has become their de facto non-vintage flagship. Many houses were pushed into making a rosé champagne by the vicissitudes of fashion, and went about it the simplest way possible. By contrast, Billecart took the job seriously, acquiring vineyards specifically to produce their own red wine for blending. Their Sous Bois cuvée has been vinified and aged in oak casks in a nod to the Champagnes of yesteryear, and offers unusually complex aromatic definition. When it comes to vintage releases, it is worth remembering that the 1959 Nicolas-Francois was judged to be 'Champagne of the Millenium' in a blind tasting involving 150 vintages from the most illustrious Champagne producers. The (current) 2008 Billecart vintage was the star of a tasting here at Uncorked earlier this year; and the Nicolas-Francois vintage cuvée is an homage to the founder of the house, only released in what they consider to be the very best vintages.
Mathieu Roland-Billecart is the seventh and latest generation at the head of the house, and he'll be on hand today to guide you through a selection of Billecart Champagnes we'll be showing on tasting. Mathieu will be here from noon to 2:30, and the Champagnes will be open all afternoon. /NT
Offered subject to confirmation; available now online and in the shop
