2007 - Billecart-Salmon, Elisabeth Salmon Brut Rose

Aromas of red berries, orange rind, dried flowers, warm brioche and spices introduce the 2007 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth, one of the highlights of this tasting chez Billecart. It's full-bodied, broad and vinous, with an enveloping attack and a bright underlying spice of acidity, revealing plenty of chalky dry extract and concentration, concluding with a long and precise finish. Despite the style of the vintage and the fact that malolactic fermentation was largely blocked, this is quite a textural, powerful wine.

The 2007 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is even better than the last time I tasted it. A total pleasure bomb, the 2007 drinks well right out of the gate. Soft curves push a core of sweet red berry fruit, rose petal and cinnamon into the foreground. Readers will have a very hard time keeping their hands off the 2007. Why wait? The 2007 is so alluring today. (Originally published in May 2021)

50% Pinot Noir from Mareuil, Verzy and Ambonnay. 50% Chardonnay, all grand cru. 8% very deep red wine and white wine blended. 80-year-old Pinot Noir vines, very low-yielding and massal planting. 7 g/l dosage.Deep salmon pink. Lots of impact and savoury fruit on the palate. Real orange-peel zest. Quite chewy but very serious. For the table. Enormous contrast with their NV Rosé. (JR)