jochen rueckert

8.9

Very fruity — a month ago

Jay Kline

9.1

The Hébrart domaine is located right on the Marne, in the village of Aÿ, catty-corner to Philipponnat. Their 1er cru Rosé, NV is a 60/40 mix of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, aged in INOX (with a small portion of the PN added as vin rouge aged in barrique). What’s most important, is that it’s delicious.

Popped and poured; enjoyed over the course of an hour. The wine pours a very pretty pink color with a persistent mousse. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of ripe strawberry, raspberry, lemon, pink flowers, marzipan and limestone minerals. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is medium+ with a lovely, creamy texture. Serious enough for the nerds; seriously gluggable for the revelers. Disgorged April of 2023. Drink now. — 7 months ago

Willie Carter

9.2

My go to rosé and for good reason. The sweet smell of summer and romance is all over this. Cranberries and wild strawberries with a nice herbal element. The wind in her air and a song on her lips. Chalk and honeysuckle with a nice touch of yeast notes.

Chardonnay dominant with an extra brut dosage. Crisp, refreshing, and utterly delicious. Inviting and generous with racy acidity and a ton of character. Focused with plenty and depth. Summer berries in the mouth along with memories of that weekend on the beach with her. For me, an essential champagne to always keep on hand. For remembering those more blissful times.
— 3 years ago

Vanessa

9.4

Today we began with a visit to Billecart-Salmon, which has been family owned since 1818. They are 7 generations strong, producing between 2 and 2.5 million bottles per year. We received our informative tour from Jérôme Lafouge. 👏

He explained how Billecart-Salmon grows and manages many of the vines used to produce their wines; they also source grapes 🍇 from other growers, but otherwise own the production process from the pressing of the grapes on… the facilities are pristine and processes are executed meticulously.

Each wine is vinified by vineyard plot. A unique feature of Billecart-Salmon is its decision to have a slow, cool fermentation process for all of its wine - both those vinified in barrels and those in stainless steel tanks - a process that takes 6 weeks to complete.

Each winemaking decision is customized based upon the type and condition of the grapes, e.g., some undergo a malolactic fermentation (where tart malic acid is converted to soft, lactic acid) while others may not, some have a first fermentation in oak where as some are stainless steel, etc.

At the end of our tour we had the pleasure to taste a few beautiful wines (pictured here).

Our favorite was the 2002 Vintage Cuvée Nicolas François comprised of 60% Pinot Noir from Mareuil-Sur-Aÿ, Aÿ, Ambonnay, and Verzenay and 40% Chardonnay from Chouilly, Cramant, and Avize.

This wine was clearly developing lovely tertiary aromas. It also had great complexity retaining its primary and secondary notes. It was disgorged January of 2016, resting over a decade on the lees.

The aromas and palate had caramel, toffee, brioche, pie crust, toast, hazelnut, cream, melted butter, honey, ginger, candied lemon peel, quince, fig, and chamomile notes.

What an enjoyable experience and we loved meeting some new friends on the tour from Savannah, Georgia and Canada.

Santé mes amis 🥂🥂🥂 — 5 years ago

with Deked1

Francisco Tezen

9.0

Lip-smacking good - berry fruit with hints of mint that give way to a yeasty, lemon zest finish. — 5 years ago

Stas Medvedev

9.2

🏅Rating 92/100 (4,2⭐)

I always struggle with rose champagnes. Somehow they don't convince me and almost never justify the price tag. But there are a few which I am satisfied with.

Cuvee Elisabeth is definitely in my top list. Its first vintage is 1988 and was created as a counterpart to another prestige cuvee of the house Nicolas François.

This cuvee is about the elegance and finesse rather than the power. Made of equal parts of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir it is blended with less than 10% of red wine from old vines in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ.

Chic rose color with copper hue. Reductive style with a cooler 2007 vintage showing through. Apricot jam, candied citrus, sugar powdered red berries. Delicate bitter cool and dry finish. Disg. in Feb 2019 after spending impressive 11 years on lees. The dosage of 6 g/l is enough to reach the perfect balance.
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Instagram: @wine_talks_club — 6 years ago

Ron Siegel

9.3

Rich, fresh with notes of pear, apple, brioche, mineral & the complexity you get from a mature vintage. Sadly my last btl out of a case purchased on release. — 2 months ago

Vanessa

9.5

Happy New Year’s Eve to you all! 🎉

To celebrate the holiday, we’re popping this special bottle of bubbles we’ve been eager to try. 😝

It’s Champagne Philipponnat’s 2004 vintage champagne made with 65% Pinot Noir and 35% Chardonnay hailing from a single clos – Clos des Goisses – surrounded by a traditional stone wall in the Village of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ.  🍾

Talk about a singularity of place!  It was first produced as a single vineyard wine in 1935, a pioneering approach for a Champagne House in a land known for regional blending.

After fermentation, this wine aged on the lees for 10 YEARS in Philipponnat’s historic cellars in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ; a Premier Cru Village of the Grand Vallée de la Marne, located on the southerly flank of the Montagne de Reims, where Pinot Noir dominates like in the Grande Montagne.

Okay for the tasting note!  Wow. 🤯 It has pastry, brioche, nougat, and marzipan for days, next to toasted almond, lemon curd, white peach, baked yellow apple, dried chamomile, blossom, and wet slate notes. Despite its unequivocal richness, it has a spine of acidity lending balance and brightness.
 
Cheers to 2025; may it be filled with hope, health, joy, adventure, and amazing sips! 🍾🥂 — a year ago

with Deked1

Tracy Hall

9.6

Lovely aromatics of pear with a just right crispness and light grape saline finish. Super balanced. Love this! disgorged March 16, 2021 TBL — 4 years ago

Lauren Golanty

8.9

A good champagne. Drank kind of… young? Balanced but not graceful, hefty but a little too eager. All of the flavor was BOOM, right up front, and it was more green apple rind than anything. Good - maybe not my thing. — 5 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.4

Nose smells a bit dosagey and creamy. But under that a massively intense minerality that is floral and high toned. Really clear and deep. But needs air for complexity to develop I think. Palate is terrific. Lots of 15 razors and angles. Loads of lime pith and some rock candy note on the finish. Delicious and very young. Elegant and long with cracking acids. Really impressive. Persistent with lovely citrus developing. — 5 years ago

Romain Fitoussi

9.1

A winegrower that I have been following with passion for several years: Explosive bouquet of fruits and flowers, enhanced with cinnamon notes. A "natural" Beaujolais Gamay, light and crunchy in the first hours after opening. Then the wine unfolds and unfolds again. After 12 hours, the wine is round. The acidity is lively and the tannins are both tight and opulent. It is delicate and full. Wonderful on a home-made marguerita pizza (with arugula).

Un vigneron que je suis depuis quelques années avec passion. Bouquet explosif de fruits et de fleurs, rehaussé de notes cannelées. Un gamay « nature » du Beaujolais, léger et croquant au premières heures après l’ouverture. Puis le vin se déploie et se déploie encore. Après 12h on a un vin rond, ample, l’acidité est vive et les tanins sont à la fois serrés et opulents. C’est fin délicat et ample. Magnifique sur une pizza marguerita home-made (avec de la roquette). — 5 years ago

Dr. Owen Bargreen

9.9

(Tasted on 7/30/18 with Christophe Baron at Cayuse)
The ‘Sur Echalas Vineyard’ Grenache is a stunning new bottling by superstar vigneron Christophe Baron and assistant vigneronne Elizabeth Bourcier. The head-turning bouquet entices with potpourri, wild strawberry, tobacco leaf, wet stone and shades of Umami with blood orange zest and charcuterie on this highly complex and satisfying nose. The palate is lithe and light on its feet, as the wine simply dazzles across the palate. The marvelous salinity produces gobs of mouth-watering acidity. Leather, tarragon, orange zest, red cherry candy and shades of guava puree with white truffle shavings all round out this highly gratifying palate. The range imparted in the wine is second to none. The texture to this wine is also absolutely gorgeous as the wine has a seamless quality that gracefully dances across the mid-palate. Monumental, profound and a delight to savor now, this ‘Sur Echalas’ Grenache up there with the best of its kind in North America. Drink 2019-2029- 99

— 7 years ago

Ivor

9.0

L542. Pleasant champagne with almonds, marzipan, ginger, red ripe apple, a bit unrefined mousse. — 7 months ago

Vanessa

9.5

Prior notes continue to apply…

When we visited Billecart-Salmon in October of 2021, we received a tour of the stunning estate. Along the way, our guide, Jerome, paused near a traditional “Clos” (a single vineyard, enclosed by a wall) on the property. 

We could see a beautiful stone wall, surrounding a tiny 1 hectare parcel of “Clos Saint-Hilaire,” named after the Patron Saint & local church in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, where Billecart-Salmon is located. 

Although we didn’t go into the Clos, we learned about how special this parcel is to the family; how it’s exclusively planted to Pinot Noir with vines dating back to 1964; how work in the vineyard is performed by hand and horse-drawn plows; how this parcel is farmed according to an age-old savoir-faire, adhering to principles of sustainable viticulture.

The wine is pale gold with a prominent bouquet of yellow apple, Anjou pear, raspberry, lemon curd, white peach, white blossom, desiccated white rose, wet stones, biscuit, brioche, almond paste, marzipan, crusty croissant, pie crust, toast, creamy texture and persistent, fine-beaded mousse and long elegant finish.

This is a 2005 “Blanc de Noirs” Champagne, comprised of 100% Pinot Noir, all coming from Le Clos Saint Hilaire, vinified entirely in oak casks to lend texture and body, and aged over 13 years sur lie prior to its recent release.  Due to the vineyard’s small size, production is very limited, and wine only produced in the best vintages.

Cheers to beautiful wines expressing a singularity of time and place!

Billecart-Salmon Le Clos Saint-Hilaire (2005).  — a year ago

with Deked1

Conrad Green

9.1

Marmalade in color. Oxidative notes with Apple cider vinegar but a freshness and drive too. Really interesting — 4 years ago

with Walker, Tony and 2 others

Tracy Hall

9.7

I don’t think you can get any more perfect for a Rose. Just the right amount of acid and lift and length. Muted berry and stone fruit nose. Red and blue fruits, clean and mouth watering. Love this! Chardonnay 55%, Pinot Noir 38.5%, Mareuil Rouge 6.5% disgorged May 6, 2020. WHW — 5 years ago

Willie Carter

9.1

Clear blonde with a multitude of fine bubbles, really attractive and nice perlage. Very pure aromas on the nose with honeyed toast, white grapes, and a little peach. A touch of oak and apricot. There’s a definite sense of rusticity here and it’s quite welcome here. After plenty of time, those fruit notes become more mature with dates and the faintest hint of dried cherries.

An outstanding grower champagne and one that, for me, really epitomizes the genre. A bit stark and austere, which is a good thing. Half Chardonnay, half Pinot Noir with an extra brut dosage of 3 g/l. The terroir truly speaks here hailing from Bisseuil and Mareuil-Sur-Ay. Very nice acidity and quite vinous in nature.

The palate is generous and inviting especially if you give it time. Almonds, lime zest, and plenty of brioche bread. Green apples with an earthy element as the Pinot begins to take over. A truly exciting champagne that will deliver even more if you let it sit for a few more years. But I can’t blame you if you don’t.
— 5 years ago

Willie Carter

9.2

A pale straw color with a generous amount of tiny bubbles. A fine mousse and bead. This is an incredibly alive champagne and it starts immediately. Meyer lemons and tart green apples, along with smoke and mint on the nose. That wonderful citrus streak continues throughout.

100% Chardonnay primarily from Mareuil-sur-Ay and Chouilly. Family owned grower and one of my favorite producers with such consistent quality. Richer and fuller than many others, it’s round and vibrant. Lovely depth and acidity with a backbone of herbs and spices.

Chalky minerality and crystallized honey shine here. Beautiful toasted bread and almonds on display, along with more green apples and lemons. Apricots, plums, and peaches sing a lovely song. Chamomile and more honey on the long, exceedingly pleasant finish. A highly attractive pour. — 6 years ago

Shay A

9.2

Heck of a hosting by @Weston Eidson last night for the City Club wine group. All wines were tasted blind.

This was very light and refreshing. Could see this being super easy to sip on these hot TX summer days. Tons of green apple, pear, citrus and chalky limestone. Right down the middle. I called this non vintage champagne. — 7 years ago

with Weston, joe and 2 others