Champagne Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart 2008

83% grand crus, 17% premiers crus; 60% pinot noir from Mareuil-sur-AY, AV, Ambonnay, Bouzy, Verzenay and Verzy; 40% Chardonnay from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Chouilly, Cramant, Vertus; 17% vinified in oak barrels (pinot noir); partial malolactic fermentation; aged 150 months on lees; 2.9 g/L dosage; disgorged November 2021

"Long have I anticipated Nicolas Franqois Billecart 2008 and my first encounter came with Antoine Roland-Billecart in the dining room of the house in Mareuil-sur-AY. I spent a full 20 minutes riveted by its evolution in the glass, moving me to tears. The profound precision and intricate, molecular detail that defines Billecart is transported to a higher level of fidelity in 2008, illuminating a brilliant display of fine chalk minerality of the highest proportions. A saline chalk core erupts from its depths, framing the most pure lemon fruit and strawberry hull; emphatically, unrelentingly and sublimely primary, without even the slightest movement toward evolution. In time, pinot steps forward in the most gloriously pure red cherry fruits. Even 17 months post-disgorgement, it is still intricately, tightly coiled, with an undeterred line and unrelenting persistence; a high-tensile spring of taut, pure energy that screams out for a lifetime to uncoil. This is an NFB with sixty years of glorious life stretching before it, and strictly must not to be approached for at least another decade yet.

Alongside Clos du Mesnil, Nicolas-François Billecart 2008 is my most anticipated release of the year and indeed the decade. I believe this to be the very last cuvée to be released from 2008, the vintage of our lifetimes. Since anointing the 2000 vintage Champagne of the Year in the inaugural edition of The Champagne Guide, I have tasted every top vintage back to 1975, awarding an incredible rolling average score of more than 98 points, a feat achieved by just two other cuvées: Krug Clos du Mesnil and Krug Vintage. This ranks Nicolas-François Billecart in the top three in the world." 100 points. Tyson Stelzer

Country: France
Region: Champagne