Billecart-Salmon Le Réserve

Lovely aromas of raspberries, gingerbread, toast and honey on the nose. I like the generosity and concentration of flavor on the palate, with a medium body and soft, creamy bubbles. Long finish. 43% meunier, 29% chardonnay and 28% pinot noir, with over 50% reserve wines. Blend of 15 vintages, with percentages based on the 2020 vintage, back to 2006. Delicious now.

The NV Brut Le Reserve (base 2020) is the first edition of the former Brut Reserve in its new incarnation, with the greater focus that is such a central part of the Billecart approach these days. Pliant, creamy and seductive, Le Reserve is terrific. Dried pear, hazelnut, spice, orange peel and dried flowers all meld together in an effortless, gracious Champagne that is all class. Dosage is 3 grams per liter. Disgorged: First Quarter 2024.

Based on the 2020 vintage (the youngest vintage serves as the “base” of a bottling, even if it does not represent the majority of the blend) and incorporating 71% reserve wines—half stored as individual vintages and the other half as a perpetual reserve initiated in 2006—Billecart-Salmon’s latest NV Le Réserve is showing nicely. It offers aromas of green pear, honeysuckle, brioche and white peach. Disgorged in early 2024 with a dosage of three grams per liter, this reimagined cuvée has recently undergone a significant reduction in dosage. The sweetness that so often presents itself on the finish of NV Champagnes from Grandes Marques is no more. Medium to full-bodied, lively and charming, with a textural attack and vibrant acidity, it culminates in a long, precise finish. This reinvented cuvée replaces the Brut Réserve and, beyond the lowered dosage, sees a stricter fruit selection, an additional 20 months of aging sur lattes (now totaling 50 months) and an increased proportion of the perpetual reserve.