2009 Billecart Salmon Cuvee Elisabeth Rose

Incorporating fully 10% still red wine, Billecart's 2009 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is showing beautifully, delivering fragrant aromas of plums, stone fruits, petals, sweet spices and marzipan. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and elegant, it's seamless and pillowy, with bright acids and a pure, precise profile, concluding with a bright, saline finish. In 2009, it was vinified entirely in stainless steel.

Copper-orange color with aromas of grapefruit pith, cherry stones, dried roses, white pepper, pastries, walnuts and oyster shells. Refined and elegant with pretty, dried red and citrus fruit, layered with subtle spice and toast. Fine bubbles. Dry. 55% pinot noir from Mareuil-sur-Ay and Ay, and 45% Grand Cru chardonnay from Cote des Blancs, with 10% of pinot noir red wine. Dosage 7g/L. Disgorged in July 2021. Drink or hold.

The 2009 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is such a joyous Champagne. Intensely floral and effusive, the 2009 is a real charmer. Kirsch, sweet red cherry fruit, orange peel, mint, chalk and white pepper are all finely woven together. This is an especially brisk style, both for the year and for Billecart. If anything, the dosage feels a bit low here, which gives the wine chiseled contours and a slightly austere personality.