Sparkling Wines

wines

Created in 1964 as a tribute to the house’s founder, the youngest release is the 2006 Millésime Brut Cuvée Nicolas François, a blend of 60% Pinot Noir from premier and grand crus from the Montagne de Reims and the Grande Vallée de la Marne and 40% Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs. Almost entirely fermented in stainless steel (only 5% was vinified in oak barrels) and aged for 11 years on the lees, this is a beautifully ripe and rich yet pure champagne with ripe fruit flavors intermixed with chalky notes and brioche/nougat flavors. The palate is intense and concentrated in its rich fruit and substantial depth but also tight, highly elegant and perfectly balanced. The typical finesse of Billecart-Salmon is palatable as well as amazingly pure, with the persistent structure of a great Champagne. The 2006 already drinks dangerously well, but there is no need to hurry, this will go a long way.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPThe 2006 Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart is shaping up to be a jewel of a wine, but it needs time to be at its best. I am surprised by how tightly wound it is. But that only makes me think what it might develop into with time in the cellar. Lemon confit, white flowers, mint, crushed rocks and sage meld together in a bright, crystalline Champagne endowed with terrific purity. The 2006 is 60% Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims and the Vallée de la Marne and 40% Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs, mostly done in steel, with just a touch of oak, around 5%. Dosage is 6 grams per liter.Vinous Media | 97 VMThis wine has always been a blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay since its inception in 1964, honouring the house’s co-founder. Like the other founder’s cuvées, 5% of the wine is vinified in old oak barrels and it then spends 11 years on its lees with partial malolactic fermentation. It has a beautiful mousse and fine, fast-streaming bubbles, and is very tight and reserved at first, opening in the glass to reveal refined sous bois, pastry, tart red apple, rich yellow plum and lifted floral notes. Elegant, complex, long and zesty, it’s still very young with its full potential yet to show.Decanter | 96 DECA rounded vintage, with very attractive white peach, apricot and nectarine fruits as well as lemon and yellow grapefruit, dried flowers, orange rind and some clotted cream. The palate has an assertive, sturdy and punchy feel to it. Bright acidity that’s lime sorbet-like. Good length and plenty of fresh stone fruit flavors. Fleshy and lively. Drink this now.James Suckling | 96 JSNamed after the founder of the house, Nicolas François Billecart (who married Elisabeth Salmon), this wine is now at its peak. It is poised between fresh apple fruits and broader, riper maturity. This balance gives a ripe wine hinting at toast and almonds while still with a dry aftertaste.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WEFine and creamy, this harmonious Champagne layers a firm backbone of bright acidity with a lovely range of orange pâte de fruit, marzipan, lime blossom and toasted brioche notes. Tightly meshed and racy, with a long, lightly spiced finish. Drink now through 2030.Wine Spectator | 94 WS

Is there a better way to start lunch than with Cedric Bouchard’s 2006 Blanc de Blancs La Haute-Lemblée and a dozen oysters? I doubt it. The wine was absolutely beautiful, even a touch reserved, but the trademark Bouchard elegance was on full display. Bouchard’s Champagnes remain some of my very favorite wines on the planet. This bottle was stunning.Vinous Media | 96 VM

The Roses de Jeanne Blanc de Noirs Les Ursules may very well be one of the finest Pinot Noir wines of Champagne. Stunning aromatics meld into a finessed, layered expression of Pinot fruit, all wrapped into a silky-textured frame of profound beauty. The wine possesses striking clarity and detail, a fine mousse and an eternal finish. This too is 100% 2006 juice that spent 28 months on its lees and was bottled with no dosage. This bottle was disgorged in July, 2008. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2018.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95 RPThis vineyard is located in Celles. Bouchard has 0.97 hectares under vine. Les Ursules is the only Roses de Jeanne vineyard that Bouchard does not own, but rather farms through a long-term lease arrangement. Bouchard believes that Pinot Noir from this site is particularly well-suited to aging in magnums and it is likely that in the future the entire production from Les Ursules will be bottled in large formats. Recently Bouchard has begun to make some of his Coteaux Champenoise wines from this site.The 2006 Roses de Jeanne Blanc de Noirs Les Ursules combines elements of the 2002 and 2005. The explosive bouquet recalls the boisterous, super-rich 2002, but then the wine turns quite a bit more linear on the palate, with a layers of minerality that invite a comparison with the shy, introspective 2005. The development in the glass is nothing short of spectacular. Over time, the mousse becomes imperceptibly fine as the bubbles virtually disappear, revealing a moving, intensely satisfying wine. Hints of Mirabelle plums, red berries, mint, spices and flowers linger on the sublime finish. This is a magnificent, towering Champagne from Cédric Bouchard. A small number of magnums will go on sale later in 2010. Readers should do whatever they can to snap them up. Although the 2006 will only get better in bottle I frankly find it impossible not to drink today.Vinous Media | 95 VM

Broad, ample and resonant on the palate, the 2006 Cristal dazzles with its pure richness and volume. Readers need to give the 2006 another 4-5 years in bottle, perhaps longer, as the wine appears to be shutting down a bit. Tasted next to the 2002, today the 2006 is a bit less opulent but just as intense, layered and deep. This is a fabulous showing. 10,000 cases imported in the US.Vinous Media | 97 VM(Louis Roederer, Cristal, Champagne, France, White) Fantastic from the start. A colossal power of beautiful rumbling Pinot maturity. It’s like chewing on the ripest grapes from Aÿ and Verzenay. At the same time ultra stylish: unmistakable Cristal essence of peach and mango sweetness, pineapple, coconut, vanilla, sprightly acidity and citrus blossom. Many similarities with 2002 but with a clearer Pinot touch. (Drink between 2016-2030)Decanter | 97 DECDeep pinot-driven presence is the first and lasting impression. Power with control. Superfine bead, bread and spiced biscuits, candied ripe red fruits and a sense of tight-knit complexity. Some grapefruit, lemon pith & gently flinty notes too - impressive nose. In the mouth it is rich, powerful, mouth-filling and flavorsome with a core of the same biscuity red fruit flavor, savory nutty notes and a wrap of assertive, persistent acidity that holds rich powerful flavor deep and focused whilst maintaining a polished, gently creamy texture. Long chalky bread and biscuit finish. A superb pinot-driven vintage.James Suckling | 97 JSThe 2006 Cristal shows rich and ripe (tropical) fruit on the nose along with delicate brioche notes. Round and textured on the palate, this is a generous but fresh, fine and salty Cristal with a very long and greatly finessed finish. Tasted in New York, November 2018.Robert Parker | 95 RPThis elegant version shows beautiful texture and a sense of finesse despite the underlying power of vibrant acidity and smoky minerality. The palate offers a finely layered mesh of blackberry, poached pear, almond pastry, lemon zest and pickled ginger flavors. Drink now through 2028. 20,000 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 95 WS(Louis Roederer Cristal Brut) The 2006 Cristal is comprised of a blend of fifty-five percent pinot noir and forty-five percent chardonnay, with twenty percent of the vins clairs having been barrel-fermented for this vintage. Despite the 2006 vintage’s predilection towards precociousness, there is no sign of this character in this beautiful rendition of Cristal, which offers up a deep, youthful and very serious bouquet of apple, delicate tangerine, brioche, fresh almond, very classy limestone minerality, incipient smokiness, a touch of orange peel and a floral topnote redolent of white lilies. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and impeccably balanced, with a great core of fruit, laser-like focus, utterly refined mousse, crisp acids and superb length and grip on the very pure and primary finish. Structurally, the 2006 Cristal is decidedly more open than its 2005 counterpart, but aromatically the wine is certainly not more developed and remains a young and very beautiful bottle of Champagne. I really love the background influence from the barrel fermentation here, which gives the wine a hint of roundness out of the blocks, but which does not intrude on the classically racy style of young Cristal. The 2006 Cristal will certainly reach its apogee earlier than the 2005, but this is still a young wine and deserves at least a handful of years in the cellar prior to drinking. (Drink between 2018-2040)John Gilman | 95 JGAlthough it is still young, this vintage of Cristal promises great things. There’s an impressive balance between ripe fruit and crisp acidity, rich and food friendly, but also a fine apéritif. Apricot and grapefruit flavors are round and rich, but with considerable minerality as well. This is a beautiful wine that can improve with age, at least through 2030. Wine Enthusiast | 95 WE(Louis Roederer Brut - Cristal (magnum) Champagne/Sparkling) Like the wine from 750 ml format, there is an ever-so-vaguely tropical element present on the yeasty, ripe and citrus-suffused nose. I like the solid mid-palate density exhibited by the rich and relatively round medium weight flavors that possess a fine but not especially firm effervescence; indeed the mouth feel of the finish is almost soft. In sum, this stylish effort is certainly complex and classy and the larger format preserves some of the vibrancy that the 750 ml version lacks. Note that this is drinking quite well even in the larger format though it will certainly live for years. (Drink starting 2017)Burghound | 92 BH

From ungrafted vines and one of the truly exceptional wines from Tarlant, the 2006 Champagne Blanc de Blancs La Vigne d’Antan Brut Nature is expressive in its bouquet of honeysuckle, toasted brioche, lemon curd, and white peach. Full-bodied, it fills the palate with wonderful depth and purity, offering ripe fruit and fantastic freshness. A complete wine, it has a refined mousse with refreshing acidity and wonderful salinity on the finish. This exceptional wine is my favorite from Tarlant once again, and it will be a treat to revisit over the coming decades. Drink 2023-2043. Disgorged June 2022.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDA dense and almost chewy Champagne with a richness and length with cooked apple and hints of strawberry character. Lots of pie crust and savory cookie undertones. Some mineral and iron, too. From a single vineyard of chardonnay, ungrafted vines. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 94 JS