93 John Gilman - View from the Cellar

"The Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé served out of magnum seemed to have just a touch more bottle age to it than the regular-sized bottle that I tasted in December, and I imagine that this is the previous year’s release of the wine, as magnums of Champagne tend to move a bit slower through the pipeline here in New York. I very much like the elegance of this bottling, which probably owes a debt to the fifty percent chardonnay in the blend. Out of magnum, the wine is drinking splendidly, offering up a complex and vibrant bouquet of melon, tangerine, wheat toast, lovely minerality, rose petals and a gentle topnote of smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and very refined, with a lovely core, elegant mousse, crisp acids and a very long, focused and complex finish. I really wish Billecart would join several other serious Grandes Marques in putting dates of disgorgement on the back label, so that one could better gauge when to start popping corks on their lovely non-vintage bottlings. 2013-2025." (02/13)