BILLECART- SALMON ELISABETH SALMON ROSE 2008
Champagne Billecart-Salmon was founded with the marriage of Nicolas-François Billecart and Elisabeth Salmon in 1818 and is situated in the village of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ.
This week signals the long awaited Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Rosé 2008 named as a tribute to Elisabeth Salmon from the hugely popular and highly rated 2008 vintage. 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, infact the famously pale colour of the brut rose comes from adding just 6-7% red wine, always Pinot Noir, which “allows purer fruit than Pinot Meunier”. 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.
| ‘This great and highly refined wine presents its personality with wonderful delicacy of texture and flavour.’
Florent NYS, Billecart-Salmon’ chief winemaker. |
2008 Weather
The weather in 2008 was dominated by grey, overcast skies – an exception in a decade characterized by bold, generous sunshine. It was September that saved the vintage, belatedly and miraculously. Just when the harvest was getting underway (on September 15), the weather conditions were finally perfect: blue skies and prolonged north-northeasterly winds. Picking was therefore spread out over a long period due to the perfect harvest conditions in mid september, which was necessary after a grey and overcast dominated spring summer.
Technical information
Vineyards: 100% Grand & Premier Cru
Grape Varieties: 45% Chardonnay from the Cote des Blancs, 55% Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims and the Grande Vallee de la Marne (inc. 9% Red Wine from Valofroy in Mareuil-sur-Ay)
Ageing: 10 years on the lees
Dosage: 7 g/l
Disgorged: June 2019
Tasting notes
A luminous visual presence with soft shimmering coppery reflections and a deep salmon pink hue. Aromatics of refreshing citrus peels and red berry jelly. Beautifully refined and mature olfactory notes, releasing a distinctive perfume of scented soft spices and wild raspberry pulp. On the palate , flavours of tangerine, blood orange and apple tart. A full-bodied mouthfeel, evolving towards a chalky edge and a lingering finish of citron zest and red and white currants.
| Billecart-Salmon Elisabeth Salmon Rose 2008
Essi Avellan MW | 96-98/100 ‘“The colour is invitingly glossy salmon pink and the nose full of charms. Almost two years of post-disgorgement time have ensured such openness and generosity. There is lots of delicious primary fruit like red cherry, strawberry, baked peach, lemon and blood orange. Age-derived complexity comes across in the form of spices, liquorice, and even leather, once given proper time in the glass to fully express itself. Still the most gorgeous feature of this cuvée is the phenomenally creamy texture. Billecart have for the first time used some oak barrels in the crafting of this cuvée (17%), which surely has aided in creating this appetising fleshiness, silkiness and caressing creaminess on the palate. Crisp by nature for sure, it isn’t too acidity driven due to that richness filling the mid-palate. Tannins are beautifully low-key yet the wine has beautiful structure to it. The carry is long and seamless with pure, fruity, palate-cleansing finishing notions. An exquisite Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon. The added bonus is that there will be magnums for the very first time” |
This is the third consecutive vintage Billecart-Salmon have named and released in honour of Elisabeth Salmon:
Billecart-Salmon Elisabeth Salmon Rose 2006,
Billecart-Salmon Vineyard
Billecart-Salmon Elisabeth Salmon Rose 2008 bottle
