Billecart-Salmon, Brut Sous Bois, Champagne, France

A radiant crystalline yellow colour with a super-fine mousse. It displays terrific fresh lemon and orchard fruit scents. The palate has a creamy, caressing texture with bracing vivacity, leading into brioche notes on the finish. Great maturity and virtuoso use of oak.

Using a third each of the three Champagne varieties, almost all of which are sourced from grand cru sites, this is a unique wine that is 100% vinified and aged in 15-year-old oak barrels. The base is 2009, with 35% of 2008 and 2007 reserve wines, and it spends more than seven years on its lees, with partial malolactic fermentation. It has a very dense and firm palate of concentrated, complex toasted nuts, creamy spiced patisserie and dried apricots. It's delicate but powerful, with lovely refreshing acidity. Mathieu Roland-Billecart says it's the perfect match with comte cheese or wild mushrooms.

The distinctive Sous Bois style is inspired by oak-fermented parcels destined for Billecart’s top cuvées. It upholds the mandate of Billecart in freshness, tightness and elegance thanks to retention of malic acidity, charging it with drive and freshness, and with a swirling undercurrent of impressive richness. It sings with classic Billecart precision, while basking in the richness of barrel fermentation.

This is produced from an equal blend of the three classic Champagne grape varieties: Pinot Noir sourced from the Montagne de Reims sector and Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs (both from premier cru and grand cru villages), plus Pinot Meunier from the Marne Valley. It has delicate notes of hazelnut and white fruit as well as a hint of pastry, showing lots of personality on the palate and a pleasing lightness on the finish. Suitable for fish served with a white or Normandy sauce.

Based on the 2011 vintage, with seven years on its lees. Florent Nys, chef de caves at Billecart-Salmon, uses oak casks for this Champagne, bringing hazelnut notes, a lightly roasted character and some pastry touches. It's perfectly balanced on the palate with a crystalline and round texture, and a very long finish. Displays intense personality. Dosage: 4g/l. Disgorgement: December 2018.