1999 Billecart-Salmon Brut Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart

Bright yellow-gold. An exotically perfumed bouquet evokes fresh pear, iodine, white flowers and toasted brioche, with gingery spice and mineral notes adding vibrancy. Rich and weighty but quite lithe and focused, offering sappy orchard and citrus fruit flavors and a chalky mineral nuance on the back half. Closes on a smoky note, with excellent focus and lingering floral character. L422345 16273.

Bright yellow-gold. An exotically perfumed bouquet evokes fresh pear, iodine, white flowers and toasted brioche, with gingery spice and mineral notes adding vibrancy. Rich and weighty but quite lithe and focused, offering sappy orchard and citrus fruit flavors and a chalky mineral nuance on the back half. Closes on a smoky note, with excellent focus and lingering floral character. L422345 16273.

(L303345 13907M): Yellow-gold. Powerful smoky, floral aromas of poached pear, orange pith, dried fig and iodine, with a smoky topnote. Rich and deeply pitched but almost shockingly energetic on the palate, offering a bracing mineral character to its citrus and orchard fruit flavors. The smoky quality comes back on the finish, which shows superb clarity and finishing thrust. This Champagne's marriage of power and vivacity is pretty impressive.