2012 Champagne Billecart-Salmon, Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon, Rosé, Brut
Critics reviews
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.
Drink 2024 - 2037
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (March 2024)
55% Chardonnay from Chouilly, Avize and Mesnil-sur-Oger. 45% Pinot Noir (mainly especially old vines in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, and Verzenay). 85% grands crus, 15% premiers crus. 3% aged in oak. Partial malo. Disgorged early 2023 with dosage 3.8 g/l.
Transparent salmon pink with a lively mousse. Definitely darker than stereotypical Provence rosé. Very broad, almost buttery, unusually hazelnut nose leads on to a floral, extremely revitalising palate with marked acidity. It's all quite seductive and flattering until the bone-dry finish. Admirably persistent with a very tactile impact on the entire mouth. A very complex pink champagne.
Drink 2024 - 2034
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (April 2024)
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
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (May 2024)
Elisabeth Salmon 2012 shows all the signs of being a true classic for Billecart-Salmon, beautifully balanced between the most alluring Pinot aromatics – black cherry juice, peach melba and fresh raspberry – and an engine of pure, persistent Chardonnay energy of bright clementine and zesty length, all lifted with subtle details of allspice, rose petal and nougat and delivered on an effortlessly silky mousse. Open for business, yet without the showiness that the wines of this vintage can sometimes display, it's a rosé of assured refinement and quiet intensity that seems set for a long future. 55% Chardonnay from Chouilly, Avize, Cramant and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger with 45% Pinot Noir from Mareuil-sur-Aÿ and Ambonnay, with 8.3% red wine addition from Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. 2.9% fermented in barrel, and released after 115 months on lees with a dosage of 3.8g/L.
Drink 2024 - 2034
Tom Hewson, Decanter (April 2024)
A rich coppery bronze in hue, this blend of 55% chardonnay from Chouilly, Avize, Mesnil-sur-Oger and Cramant and 45% pinot noir from Mareuil-sur-Ay?, Ambonnay and Ay? is rich and mature in bouquet, starting to go a little toasty and nutty after ageing 115 months on the lees. A background of floral notes and dried berry fruits; ripe, concentrated raspberry fruit flavours and notes of spice are buoyed by a fine fresh mousse that, once dissolved, turns this delightful champagne into a vinous, gastronomic wine, finishing dry with just 3.8 grams per litre dosage.
Anthony Rose, The Real Review (June 2024)
About this WINE
Champagne Billecart-Salmon
Champagne Billecart-Salmon was founded in 1818 in the village of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ near Epernay. It remains family-owned and run; Mathieu Roland-Billecart represents the seventh generation here, following in the footsteps of founders Nicolas-François Billecart and Elisabeth Salmon.
A family tasting committee meets weekly, joined by chef du cave Florent Nys. The eight-person panel includes three generations of the family, notably including Jean Roland-Billecart (who alone has over 75 vintages of experience). Not one cuvée is released until every member of the committee agrees on the blend.
Billecart-Salmon is a large Champagne House, with around 100 hectares of vines of its own. The process of organic conversion for the vineyards was started in 2019. The house also buys fruit from growers covering another 300 hectares of vines. Most of the fruit comes from the Champagne sub-regions of Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne and Côte des Blancs.
Rosé Champagne
Rosé wines are produced by leaving the juice of red grapes to macerate on their skins for a brief time to extract pigments (natural colourings). However, Rosé Champagne is notable in that it is produced by the addition of a small percentage of red wine – usually Pinot Noir from the village of Bouzy – during blending.
Recommended Producers : Billecart Salmon (Elizabeth Salmon Rose), Ruinart
Champagne blend
Which grapes are included in the blend, and their proportion, is one of the key factors determining the style of most Champagnes. Three grapes are used - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.
26% of vineyards in Champagne are planted with Chardonnay and it performs best on the Côtes des Blancs and on the chalk slopes south of Epernay. It is relatively simple to grow, although it buds early and thus is susceptible to spring frosts. It produces lighter, fresher wines than those from Burgundy and gives finesse, fruit and elegance to the final blend. It is the sole grape in Blancs de Blancs, which are some of the richest long-lived Champagnes produced.
Pinot Noir accounts for nearly 40% of the plantings in Champagne and lies at the heart of most blends - it gives Champagne its body, structure, strength and grip. It is planted across Champagne and particularly so in the southern Aube district.
The final component is Pinot Meunier and this constitutes nearly 35% of the plantings. Its durability and resistance to spring frosts make the Marne Valley, a notorious frost pocket, its natural home. It ripens well in poor years and produces a soft, fruity style of wine that is ideal for blending with the more assertive flavours of Pinot Noir. Producers allege that Pinot Meunier lacks ageing potential, but this does not deter Krug from including around 15% of it in their final blends.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
I do adore this cuvée. This beautiful rosé combines the intensity of old vines on great terroir with that delicate but incisive Billecart style. In the blend, 10% is still Pinot Noir, made from ancient vines in Valofroy. The remaining balance is 45% Pinot Noir and 55% Chardonnay – all from top vineyards. I bought some of the 2008 for my cellar, and I’m a little frustrated because I’ll need to raid the piggy bank again! This is just gorgeous – a little more floral and fruit-forward than the 2008, but it’s just as good. I love the pinch of ginger spice that follows the fruit and that silky texture… that’s something to savour.
Edward Richardson, Private Client Manager, Berry Bros. & Rudd
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