On Thursday, March 6th 2025, Mathieu Billecart, CEO of Billecart-Salmon, hosted an exclusive vertical tasting of all released vintages of Billecart-Salmon Le Clos Saint-Hilaire, the house’s 100% Pinot Noir Champagne. Sourced from a one-hectare walled vineyard nestled behind the Maison in Mareuil-sur-Ay, this exceptional cuvée was first released in 1995, with the tasting culminating in a preview of the upcoming 2009 release, spanning a total of ten vintages.
One striking takeaway was how clearly the walled vineyard’s influence could be perceived. Its ripeness, chalky minerality, and salinity were beautifully expressed, and even in warmer years, the wines retained a remarkable balance.
Each vintage was served with a carefully curated dish, and both the pairings and the quality of the food were exceptional. A big congratulations to The Cocochine for delivering an outstanding culinary experience!
Le Clos Saint-Hilaire 2009 | 18/20
Dosage: 2 g/l Disgorged: Jan 2024 Bottles: 4500 – 1st time small release in Magnum
Far from shy on release, this champagne leaps out the glass, a mix of dark PN fruit and toasted almonds and hints of marzipan. The palate brings forward the clos chalky charm and salinity with super fresh acidity cutting through the toasty oak character. The palate builds within minutes to show more dark cherry, plum, dark chocolate and coffee and underneath you see grapefruit, ripe apricot and finishing bitter orange. Started showing off an oxidative edge and transitioned to become gently reductive. Fascinating as displays some tropical notes, from the hot summer, yet has a very significant “clos influence” of minerality from the soils. Drink now to 2035
Japenese otoro tuna and golden oscietra caviar paired with the 2009
Le Clos Saint-Hilaire 2007 | 18+/20
Dosage: 2 g/l Disgorged: May 2023 Bottles: 4800
More forward orange and toasty oak leads to bundles of dried citrus and stone fruits. The palate builds up with layers of fruit and thirst quenching freshness. There is power here and yet a lightness, quite delicate yet it seems younger than the 2009. This will be interesting to watch it develop as I have a feeling this is going to come out and express itself in the coming years. Drink now to 2035+
Wild mushroom parfait, truffle glaze and pickled winter mushrooms paired with the 2007
Le Clos Saint-Hilaire 2006 | 19/20
Dosage: 2 g/l Disgorged: Nov 2020 Bottles: 6750
The power of bright citrus & gunflint waft out the glass, ripe lemon, apricot, bitter lemon rind, orange and grapefruit. All quite discreet, lightness and texturally round like velvety on the tongue and really attractive bitter grapefruit on the finish. The oak is so discreet and integrated and long length. Enjoying it so much, I asked for a repour and got a different bottle, this was evolved; the cork messing with this bottles.
Scottish hand-dived XXL scallop, Alsace bacon, kombu and roast chicken jus paired with the 2006
Dosage: 1 g/l Disgorged: Dec 2019 & Nov 2020 Bottles: 5100
The oak is more forward here, hints of flinty reductive charm give way to the citrus of ripe grapefruit and orange with that pith like twist of bitter. Feels very young and zippy at present, some tropical hints and darker fruits are emerging from the palate, but I am amazed at the prettiness, zest and energy here. This is one to watch. Enjoy now and to 2040.
Larry’s crispy chicken, creamed leeks and golden oscietra caviar paired with the 2005
Le Clos Saint-Hilaire 2003 | 17/20
Dosage: 3.5 g/l Disgorged: July 2019 Bottles: 1000
Frost really impacted in spring, very low yielding year. The heat of the year is apparent with more tropical fruit character and lots of dark cherry, blackberry, grapefruit and a lot of orange. This has good zest on the palate, finishes quite short and so far one of the less complex. Drink now to 2030+
Scottish lobster and Norwegian king crab ravioli, shellfish bisque paired with the 2003
Le Clos Saint-Hilaire 2002 | 18.5/20
Dosage: 1 g/l Disgorged: June 2018 Bottles: 3674
A waft of eucalyptus sits over a very citrusy core of ripe lemon, grapefruit and apricot. The palate builds with layers of dark fruit like plum and cherry and complimented by chocolate and finishes with charred pineapple. The champagne started quite closed and towards the end became quite showy, I like the precision and bitter orange charm and refreshing core. Quite a journey this bottle, opened looking evolved and 10-15 minutes later it was more pure and like a beautiful aged home-made marmalade.
Turbot, Swiss chard and cloudberries paired with the 2002
Le Clos Saint-Hilaire 1999 | 15/20
Dosage: 0 g/l Disgorged: July 2014 Bottles: 6750
Very much shifting to a gently sparkling champagne as the pressure drops over time. Not one to my taste, the negative mushroom aroma is taking over a core of grapefruit, ripe lemon and peach. I wonder if this was better 5 years ago and now in decline. I will be interested to taste once again to be sure what is happening with the 1999.
Line caught wild seabass, langoustine and bouillabaisse paired with the 1999
Dosage: 0 g/l Disgorged: July 2009 Bottles: 6750
Light smoky reductive notes give way to bundles of grapefruit, bitter orange, plum, coffee, lime cordial and marmalade lingering on a refreshing palate. This is a glass to delight me, reductively heavenly! The flavours linger and grow with time and yet this is staying so precise with time. Enjoy now til mid 2030’s
Tosi gorgonzola, Quince and sourdough paired with the 1998
“Mathieu says the 1995 and 1996 were the years the team were finding their feet with winemaking of the Clos.” To me those feet were far from lost!
Le Clos Saint-Hilaire 1996 | 19/20
Dosage: 4 g/l Disgorged: April 2007 Bottles: 6500
Very youthful aromatics, I was expecting some evolution, but it’s a champagne with an abundance of freshness; sweet ripe lemon, lime and grapefruit with accents of bitter orange and darker fruits like dried cherry and plum. The palate is one of youth and energy and textural velvetiness. Going back the bitter elements of orange and grapefruit really linger and create the most beautiful textural experience. The 1996 is the only clos vintage where the malo-lactic fermentation was encouraged to complete.
Lemon meringue pie paired with the 1996
Le Clos Saint-Hilaire 1995 | 19.5/20
Dosage: 0 g/l Disgorged: Nov 2004 Bottles: 6000
This is a real journey and here we are at the 1st release of Clos St Hilaire. There are hints of gunflint, ripe charred pineapple, concentrated lime and everything so positively reductive giving the cues of freshness. No doubt this is the best of the flight. The bitter orange is quite extraordinary in its concentration, bitter and deliciousness as the fruit has ripeness it gives this lushness to a velvety texture. Very impressive, lingering flavours and perfect balance.
66% chocolate cremeux, biscuit & golden caviar paired with 1995
An incredibly fascinating journey, showcasing 100% Pinot Noir Champagne from a tiny one-hectare Clos. My highest scores today went to the Champagnes that displayed that distinctive gunflint, reductive style, simply because of the purity it brings, allowing the fruit and terroir to shine beautifully, undisturbed by oxygen.
The 1995, the very first release, was outstanding; remarkably concentrated and fresh. I have no doubt that this Champagne will continue to evolve for several more decades.
I hope you have the opportunity to taste some of these vintages, and I encourage you not to shy away from those considered “lesser” years. Vintage reputations are broad generalizations and can often be misleading—it’s ultimately about how the site and grape variety performed that year. I awarded high scores to the 2005 and 2006 vintages, which are sometimes overlooked, but in reality, these two are true gems.
Note On The Influence of Corks:
A very complex issue and some of the bottles shown had corks which had a negative impact on the champagne, highlighted because several of the re-pours showed more oxidised characters. Regardless of corks being traditional, with two disks, or being technological, corks often fail. In simple terms I describe the impact a cork has on a champagne in three ways:
Positive Cork Impact – corks can add a positive character introducing polyphenols including acids and tannins.
Neutral Cork Impact – corks that have little to no detectable impact
Negative Cork Impact – some bring “woody” and negative bitter elements supressing fruit and others are less elastic and allow more oxygen ingress than on average bringing forward oxidation notes.
In general if when you open a bottle and you have a super tight fitting cork, I usually experience a champagne that is in the best shape! Corks are however a very complex topic!
