Champagne and Sparkling

Famously delicate and sexy pink At the March 2022 Taste Champagne (300 wines) I have to say this stood out as one of the most delicious "drinking Champagnes" on show - and there were some very Showy wines on show that day. A huge success for us, easy to forget just how gorgeous it is - firstly it is so very savoury, forget the cherry fruits, it's more like Xmas cake, rhubarb, forest floor, nettle and nutmeg. When the glass is empty the aromas persist. This is Grand stuff, the stuff of deluxe cuvee, truly epic. And a dinner wine too. A cunning counsel for you - don't serve it too cold, err on the cellar-temperature side. March 2022. Of course the whole Billecart range is exceptional and impressive but the 'basic NV is a STEAL! Seriously, super-tight with Silex and citrus, grippy and bracing. On best-ever form.

A Pinot-dominated special edition from our old friends Autreau, a family firm since 1670 in Premier Cru village of Champillon just north of Epernay

Family firm since 1670 in Premier Cru village of Champillon just north of Epernay. 100% black grapes. Delicate and fresh, nutty, lively mousse. Perfect House Champagne.

Slight copper hue, spicy, ripe fruit, crème brulée, full-flavoured but delicate & charming. Fine persistent mousse. Totally enjoyable and quite typical of the black-grape dominated Montagne de Reims style.

Classically made Champagne with grapes sourced from Premier Cru vineyards in the Marne Valley, a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Côtes des Blanc. This wine spends 3 years ageing prior to disgorgement. Top quality Premier Cru Champagne with full flavoured intense developed citrus and floral aromas.

Jamie Goode: "This is a rising champagne star, with a toasty aroma, herby flavours and a citrus kick.".

Mature and complex NV The nose has maturity with a touch of floral freshness for this cuvée, which expresses aromas of fresh fruit and ripe pears. A full and precise flavour followed by a fine freshness and a rich bouquet bear witness to the ageing of this cuvée in the House’s traditional cellars.

Famously delicate and sexy pink In a convenient half-bottle size.

Properly serious food wine, a Michelin-star classic! Parker 92 Aromas of almond paste, green orchard fruit, citrus oil and pastry cream introduce the latest example of Billecart's NV Brut Sous Bois, a bottling that's based on the 2009 vintage. The oak influence is much less pronounced than was the case with some of the early renditions of this cuvée, and it's really going from strength to strength, revealing a medium to full-bodied palate that's broad-shoulder and structured, with lively underpinning acids. Jancis 17/20 This new cuvee is all vinified in oak but hasn't a hint of obvious oak on the nose. Lovely quality of fizz. Brooding and intense. There is marked density here and excellent balance and persistence. As usual, we are not told on the back label how old this blend may be, just that it is 'respectfully composed' of the three Champagne varieties. But it's impressive wine and I suspect it will not be cheap. Recommended. Edge of green on the nose here. Steady bead. Really quite rich and intense. Quite a meaty nose – but then food smells are coming in from the 67 Pall Mall kitchen! Mathieu Billecart suggests Tete des Moines or Comté as a food match or mushroom risotto ‘but the mushrooms have to be in season’. Lots of impact. I agree with Alistair Cooper MW, as below. "baby brother to Clos St-Hilaire" (only £300 cheaper!!!). I've always loved Sous Bois but the current release sees it "on fine mid-season form" as Bertie Wooster might say. Tasting it recently (March 2022) was like a flashback to a recent tasting at Krug. This is a wine certainly head and shoulders above its status and price. Billecart launched it with ambition, and they have over-delivered. Utterly charming. jancisrobonson.com 17+ "A baby brother to Clos St-Hilaire, 100% barrel-fermented. One-third of each variety from selected parcels – older, lower-yielding parcels tend to be chosen for the Sous Bois. 52% grand cru grapes, 16% premier cru (across the whole portfolio; their Meunier isn’t grand or premier cru). One-third reserve wine. Malo blocked. Long lees-ageing (6–7 years). Slightly oxidative style – the most oxidative they make. A richer mouthfeel as well as real bite. A savoury and yeasty note on the nose – almost slight Marmite (yeast extract). The oak is very well integrated and just frames the wine – the subtle note of spice comes in on the finish – slightly cedary note? (AC)"

The fruit on this has a great spread of white peachy flesh sweetness, crisp apple tartness, back-throat citrus-pith bitters. Easy to like but not simplistic, and Cava at its very essence rather than a champagne knockoff. A good-quality Cava at a very good price.

Entirely handpicked in the morning, cooled and directly pressed and fermented separately in stainless steel. Pinot Noir macerated briefly to give light salmon color.Second fermentation in bottle for 18 months in temperature controlled cellars.

Absolutlely divine pet nat from Gramiller. So fine, fruity and fresh. Elegant. 95% Clairette Brut, sown with 5% Syrah which gives it aromas of small red fruits and so much more. An outstanding effort.

The 2018 vintage of a classic English Champagne-type sparkling wine from Dorset's Furleigh. This offers enticing notes of apples and freshly baked bread. And Kyran has requested this so he has got to sell it !!

Traditional method sparkling wine made from Macabeo, Xarel·lo and Parellada grapes aged for 15 months before disgorgement. Rich, fruity, and balanced.

The 2013 vintage is one that will go down as one of the greats; the wines have precision, steeliness and feel as if they have been chiselled out of chalk. Whilst the 2012 was initially more broad and alluring, the debate will go on for decades as to which vintage is better, though this is seems impossible to state as both wines are so unique and starkly different in style.

Le Clos Saint-Hilaire is an exceptional champagne which is named after the patron saint of the village Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, the home of Champagne Billecart-Salmon. Made exclusively from Pinot Noir and vinified in oak casks, it develops an outstanding purity. A full-bodied and intense texture evoking citrus fruit flesh and pears in syrup (iodine notes, mandarin pulp), as well as subtle hints of panettone, bursting with rich flavours (puffed buckwheat and liquorice wood). The wine is characterised by a mesemerizing yet expressive chram with a generosity that carries the finish towards a delicious chalky minerality. A unique tasting experience for a rare and sought-after vintage from a small-scale production of 5100 bottles. Serve at cellar temperature, this micro cuvee will pair wonderfully with a Wild Turbot and a Burmese coffeee.

Precision, pleasure & elegance is what I always associate with Billecart Salmon. And in a vintage as fabled as 2008, these hallmark traits are revealed in greater detail. The Billecart Vintage 2008 is pure joy, tiny, steady bubbles stream through wild gold in the glass. The nose is filled with baked russet apples, waxy lemons and the golden crumb of cherry crumble, all supported by the noble Pinot vinosity of Grand Cru terroir. The palate is a roasted medley of peach, Red Macintosh and white cherry, very seductive, very classy. Pinot noir leads the mid palate, earthy and richly textured, with the hallmark tension of the vintage extending the palate with an electric Cotes des Blancs, mouth-watering tang. The mousse is silky and seamless, the finish is tart tartin with saffron flecked Chantilly cream. The wine has benefitted from time in bottle, drinking beautifully now and is fit for a Royal Christmas table.

Black forest fruits, wild raspberries and black pepper on the nose, with soft yeasty notes, spice and red fruits on the palate. There is a zing of acidity that brings something entirely new to the red grape, lifting its weight. Ageing : one year on the yeast after the second fermentation in steel, allowing the powerful fruit to do the talking.

The bouquet is open and rich yet also wonderfully fresh. It offers an explosion of ripe, delicate fruit with intense notes of mirabelle plum from the Pinot noir, complemented by sweet lemon meringue pie and delicate notes of jasmine from the Chardonnay. The nose opens up to reveal autolytic characters and evolves towards smoky, roasted notes and freshly baked pastries. The palate is deep and dense with a big, well-structured backbone. The texture is simply mesmerising with its fleshy mouthfeel from the Pinot noir that coats the palate before giving way to an incredible saline freshness with a pleasant hint of bitterness. This wine combines the strength, intensity and power of the delectably ripe Pinot noirs which are balanced to perfection by the chalky freshness and density from the Chardonnay which forms the majority of the blend. Collection has all its warmth and generosity thanks to the perfect ripeness of the fruit harvested in the 2018 vintage, yet it is the freshness, energy and complexity of the ‘Réserve Perpétuelle’ created in 2012, as well as the texture imparted by the oak ageing, that extend and elongate the wines’ body resulting in unrivalled finesse and persistence.

Rich in colour, structured, and versatile. Greath depth of character. Rathfinny 2018 Rosé is the fourth vintage of our expressive Sussex Sparkling, with a red-fruit style that beautifully showcases the increased presence of Pinot Noir within the blend. “Rathfinny English sparklers rank among the best; their new release 2018 rosé is subtle and complex – look out for red apple, raspberry, red cherry, crème anglaise, orange peel and white pepper.” Susy Atkins, Stella Magazine, The Sunday Telegraph

Such a classic of the rich Pinot-dominated style, Pint really is their thing, down in sunny Urville where they've been since 1808 - still a family-owned House. Often seen on the lists of smart restaurants; quite the food wine, quite superb. Jancisrobinson.com 17/20 "Rich, creamy aroma. Brioche and pear. Lovely stone-fruit character. On the palate, glorious baked-apple brioche and excellent acidity. Almost a little chewy... orange and apricot.." Decanter Part of The best non-vintage Champagnes to buy: "Described by Drappier as 'almost a blanc de noirs', this Pinot Noir-dominant wine sourced from the Côte des Bar is the house's calling card. 5% of the cuvée is matured in barrels for a year for added complexity and texture, and it's bottled unfiltered with a fairly low dosage of 7g/l. There are some melon and apple scents on the nose along with a splash of red fruits, while the palate is intense, with notes of apple, quince and grape wrapped in a red-fruit veil. It's full-bodied and long, with a lovely texture from the red wine tannins and oak-matured portion."

Impressively rich and savoury, Drappier’s flagship wine shows complex, mature notes of dried fruit, toast and wax, alongside vivid stone fruit and citrus flavours. The palate is graceful despite its underlying power, and finishes extremely long.

This Brut Rosé is made almost exclusively from Pinot Noir grapes from the Montagne de Reims region, and from Premiers Crus and Grands Crus. Just 10% of Chardonnay from the Cotes des Blancs rounds out the blend. Seriously fruity.

The top wine from JP and well rated by experts and public alike. Looks AMAZING. 94/100 Roger Voss "a fine perfumed blend with a great balance between the ripe fruitiness, the balanced dosage and a crisp edge of pink-grapefruit flavors. This impressive vintage with its hints of toasty maturity is ready to drink. "