Billecart-Salmon Elisabeth Salmon Rose 2006 Champagne 75cl

Billecart-Salmon's exceptional prestige cuvée rosé was created in 1988 as a tribute to the House’s co-founder. Less than 10% of the Pinot Noir is vinified as red wine. The grapes used to make the red wine are from Valofroy, a plot of old vines on the slopes of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ with a southern exposure. Billecart-Salmon Elisabeth Salmon Rosé is not always released in chronological order, but rather when head winemaker François Domi believes it is ready for release.

Weather: The 2006 vintage was a year of mixed weather. It began with a rainy spell and late spring, but with little or no frost in the vineyards. Early summer was positive, with the months of June and July creating perfect conditions for flowering. Although there were some storms in late-July, the overall health of the vines was great since the weather remained hot through to the harvest with spells of rain in August promoting even healthier grapes.

Technical Information:
Vineyards: 100% Grand & Premier Cru | Pinot Noir: Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne | Chardonnay: Côte des Blancs | Red Wine: Valofroy
Grape Varieties: 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir | inc. 10% Red Wine
Ageing: 10 years on the lees
Dosage: 6 g/l
Drink: Now to 2021

Tasting Note: Initial aromas of citrus and complex red berries on the nose are carried through to the palate where fresh figs, peaches and almonds are abundant. Voluptuous hints of ripe fruits and wild strawberries. A champagne with a delicate balance of acidity and creamy textures. This rosé fully expresses the 2006 vintage and given some time to age this will improve and reward accordingly.

Champagne Billecart-Salmon was founded with the marriage of Nicolas-François Billecart and Elisabeth Salmon in 1818. Situated in the village of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, the House were forced to sell most of their vineyards during the difficulties of the early 20th century and today their 15-hecatres cover a small proportion of their production needs. To finance their growth, 45% of their shares were sold to a local investor whose vast resources aid greatly in the sourcing of grapes. Still a family-run organisation, sixth generation members of the founding family François and Antoine Roland-Billecart oversee business, whilst Chef de Cave François Domi has been at the winemaking helm for nearly thirty years.

The House style is intensely bright and fruity with an increasingly oxidative tone brought about by the recent re-introduction of oak. The Billecart-Salmon portfolio is vast but they are perhaps best known for their prestige cuvées, Cuvée Nicolas-François and Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Rosé. In 1999, Cuvée Nicolas-François 1959 was awarded 'Champagne of the Millennium' by a committee of experts at a blind tasting session involving 150 vintages from the most illustrious champagne producers. The jewel of the estate however, is the single-vineyard champagne Clos Saint Hilare: a monstrously powerful cuvée originating from a single Pinot Noir plot sheltered by a wall of stone.

Cellar Master: Florent Nys
Winery Location: Mareuil-sur-Aÿ | Champagne, France
Champagne Region: Vallée de la Marne
Annual Production (bottles): 2,000,000

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Founded in 1818 with the marriage of Nicolas François Billecart and Elisabeth Salmon, Billecart-Salmon is today still in the hands of the original family who founded it. François and Antoine Roland-Billecart are the sixth generation and lead this independent House with the help and support of their father, Jean Roland-Billecart.

Alongside the family members are a dedicated team of people who hold the House values dear to them such as General Manager Alexandre Bader, who is in charge of spreading the values of the House around the world, Chef de Cave François Domi, who has produced this fine and elegant champagne for nearly thirty years and Vineyard Director Denis Blée, who has tended the vines for the last twenty years and is responsible for Clos Saint-Hilaire. From pruning to harvest, he rigorously surveys each parcel of the vineyard and ensures maturation of the wine in the barrels.

The excellence of Champagne Billecart-Salmon is above all due to the knowledge of its people who cultivate an estate of 100 hectares and manage its grapes over an area totalling 220 hectares and 40 Crus around the Champagne region. The jewels of the estate are cultivated in Clos Saint-Hilaire. Producing fruit from half a century of careful cultivation, this hectare of Pinot Noir preciously sheltered by a wall of stone gives birth harvest after harvest to an exceptional champagne of rare complexity and stunning freshness.

Always conscious to improve the quality of their champagne, in the fifties the House established the technique of chilling the must combined with the use of stainless-steel tanks for a longer fermentation at a lower temperature. Over time, the wines conserve their freshness and the aromas intensify, allowing Billecart-Salmon champagnes to deliver all they promise.
During the 17th century, Pierre Billecart, winemaker and ancestor of Nicolas François Billecart, was hailed by King Louis XIII who authorised him to create his own coat of arms. Thus, when Billecart-Salmon was born in 1818 from union of the Billecart family to the Salmon family, his descendants proudly reinstated them.

In 1999, the prestige cuvée Nicolas François Billecart 1959 was chosen as ‘Champagne of the Millennium’ by a committee of experts at a blind tasting session in Stockholm involving 150 vintages from the most illustrious champagne producers, organised by Richard Juhlin, a great champagne specialist. The 1961 vintage, for its part, came second. In 2011, to celebrate 50 years of this exceptional vintage and to delight the palates of great champagne enthusiasts, an exclusive sale of a limited series of 1961 vintage was released.