It's our wedding anniversary today – our 22nd in fact. So to mark this particularly two-ish celebration, I'm going to choose something particularly celebratory.
This is one of those champagnes that is really joyful, happy and upbeat, with real vivaciousness yet quite a bit of serious undertow too. The all-Chardonnay blend has obviously spent quite a time on tirage (hence the price, I assume), developing lots of rather Dom Pérignon-like yeast autolysis racy depth apparent on the nose. It manages that trick of having quite enough elegance and acidity to refresh (no need to drink this champagne, unlike many other fuller-bodied examples, with food) but not a hint of greenness or tartness. Bravo, Billecart-Salmon, a well-run family company that has never been accused of undercharging but which does produce the goods.
You may well wonder whether a non-vintage wine without the gravitas of multi-vintage blends such as Krug Grande Cuvée or Laurent Perrier Grand Siècle could possibly be worth as much as many a decent vintage-dated champagne. The answer, I swear, is yes. Or at least it was for the bottle I tasted which had the following lot number on the neck: L 557284 14302A.
I tasted it alongside the considerably more expensive Bollinger Grande Année 1996 and La Grande Dame 1995 and preferred it to both. The Bollinger will presumably blossom in about five years' time but for the moment it is almost aggressively youthful. The Grande Dame has a lovely broad nose but seemed a bit loose on the palate compared to the exciting tension of the Billecart.
A comparison of international prices for this week's wine on Uncorked of London EC2, Noel Young of Trumpington are all cheaper than the high street chain wine news last spring). Suffice to say that it is roughly £29-34 a bottle but that Berrys have a special offer at £31.30 a bottle if a dozen are ordered. I have to say that I cannot imagine buying this special wine by the dozen, but congratulate you if you can.
The US importer is 22/10/03