2008 Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Elisabeth Salmon Brut Rose Champagne 750 ml

Every wine lover knows Billecart, but find someone with the 2008 Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon in their cellar and you’ve discovered a true aficionado. 

Crafted only in excellent vintages, this is a special library bottle from an elite house—exactly the kind of wine we wanted to headline the Decanter Club. “It’s silky in texture and intricately complex on the long, elegantly harmonious finish,” said Decanter, whose 98-point review put it in the top ten of their 2021 Wines of the Year. 

Elisabeth Salmon’s 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay come primarily from Grand Cru vineyards, yet its most distinctive source is a Premier Cru site called Valofroy. At this plot, the Pinot Noir vines are up to 80 years old, and the grapes they contribute lend not just gorgeous color but also richness and power. 

Billecart-Salmon takes a conservative, meticulous approach in the vineyard. They harvest earlier than most houses, achieving the maturity needed to produce intense, extroverted wines while preserving the delicate acidity that keeps them refined and fresh. That balance plays out beautifully in this wine, which bursts with strawberry, citrus, and pastry aromas. A decade of aging on the lees has imbued the palate with silky, red-fruit flavor, yet it remains remarkably dynamic, with a refreshing mineral undercurrent. A light dosage, around seven grams of sugar per liter, leaves the wine dry enough on the finish for a slow bow into the twilight. 

Billecart-Salmon is the oldest continuously family-owned Champagne house, dating back to the 1818 marriage of Nicolas François Billecart and Elisabeth Salmon, this cuvée’s namesake. After all these years, this 2008 shows that Billecart has never been better.