Billecart-Salmon Brut Blanc de Blanc Cuvee Louis 2008 750ml (750ml)

Crisp, lemony, and nicely chalky, the '07 "Cuvee Louis" Brut Blanc de Blancs offers a textbook gorgeous Chardonnay Champagne in its palate of orchard and stone fruits, subtle spices, elegant minerals, and nuanced notes of lemon curd, brioche and cream. As it evolves on the palate, this beautifully bubbly wine shows a glorious union of steeliness and creaminess, and enjoyable now, it has the acidic structure and verve to age nicely over the next decade! Deriving from three grand cru vineyards in the Cote des Blancs, Chardonnay grapes vinify half in oak casks and half in stainless steel; after a partial malolactic fermentation, the wine receives a small dosage and ages on the lees for about ten years.

Billecart-Salmon Champagne was the very first wine IWM carried that comes from outside Italy. It's a testament to this Champagne house that it was the first, and that all these years later IWM still champions it. One of the few remaining family-owned-and-operated, medium-sized Champagne houses, Billecart-Salmon, which got its name when Nicolas Francois Billecart married Elisabeth Salmon, is located in the renowned Champagne area of Mareuil-sur-Ay, France. Billecart-Salmon has a discernable house style, one that relies heavily on really excellent grapes, most of which they grow themselves on 15 hectares of vineyards, the rest deriving from very trusted farmers. Billecart-Salmon harvests its grapes early to ensure an elegant, acidic and structured Champagne, suitable for aging, and it uses a process known as double cold settling, by which it rests the first press in cold tanks before racking it again to let it settle and precipitate again, thus naturally removing unwanted solids, and wil