Billecart-Salmon’s ever reliable Reserve Brut is made from a blend of 30% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Meunier and spends 30 months ageing on its lees. 50-60% of the blend is made up of reserve wines.
Buoyant and frothy upon pouring, the mousse fades into a pale straw coloured base that has flecks of pale gold to the edges and an extremely fine and persistent bead flowing through its core. A classic sniff of yeasty baked bread characters is followed by pear, cashew, hints of dried honey and brioche. The delicious palate has a satiny and airy like feel to it and features a flavour profile of baked bread, pear, yeast lees, subtle cashew, citrus and brioche. Dry crisp chalked tinged finish with a long and delicately creamy aftertaste.
Drink over the next 3-4 years.
Alc. 12%

Other Reviews...
An uncommon blend of 40% pinot meunier and 30% each of pinot noir and chardonnay, with 40% reserve wines, fermented in a mix of tank and use of aged oak barrels. Deliberate choice of meunier is the key to its drink any time soon style, combining elegance, finesse and great length.
95 points
James Halliday - Top 100 Wines of the Year 2019

Aged on lees for 9 years this excellent vintage Champagne is comprised of 40% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay and 27% Pinot Meunier grapes sourced from predominately (73%) Grand Cru and Premier Crus.
A frothy white mousse forms over a pale straw/pale gold coloured base that’s finely threaded by a very persistent bead. Pronounced aromatics of pear and yeast lees meld into brioche, citrus, oily toast like notes, dried honey and almond. The rich, powerful palate is caressed with baked bread, pear, yeast lees and citrus flavours which have a full creamy like feel. Elements of roasted almonds, subtle oily cashew and dried honey characters chime in on the dry, crisp finish. Long, complex aftertaste.
Drink over the next 6-8 years.
Alc. 12%

Other Reviews….
Comprises 40/33/27% pinot noir/chardonnay/pinot meunier, 73% grands and premiers crus. The low dosage of 2g/l and the warm vintage allow the fruit-based flavours free rein - white peach, Granny Smith apple and nectarine. The finish and aftertaste remain fresh and long. A house in grand form.
96 points
James Halliday – Australian Wine Companion

Billecart’s Non Vintage Rose Champagne pours well with a white frothy mousse that displays good hold. Light salmon pink base wine colour with a very fine bead that shows excellent persistence. The nose exhibits scents of winter strawberry, subtle rose petal and delicate raspberry followed by some light confectionary and yeast lees nuances. On the palate delicate winter strawberry and raspberry flavours are overlaid by some yeast lees characters and a touch of biscuit. Excellent finesse. Clean crisp dry finish with creamy like mouthfeel. Long aftertaste of yeast lees and winter strawberry.

Drink over the next 2-3 years (2013-2016)
Alc 12.0%

Notes from the House of Billecart-Salmon:
This cuvee is now considered a flagship of the range of Billecart-Salmon Champagnes. It is the result of a white vinification of the best crus of 50% Chardonnay and 50% Pinot Noir. A small percentage of still red from our vineyards in Mareuil-sur-Ay is also included within the Pinot Noir content. This method dates back from the earliest days of our House. It gives the wine its original pale pink colour with a hint of gold. The secret of its success has been handed down through six generations.

Other Reviews...
Billecart-Salmon is one of my favorite Champagne houses, and their non-vintage Rose (Lot #L85547401905M) is a consistent winner. A delicate pink color is accompanied by gorgeous sweet cherry, strawberry, and mineral-like scents, assertive medium-bodied flavors, a delicate, crisp personality, and surprising depth as well as persistence. A beautiful berry character in the finish adds to this impeccable rose’s captivating style.
94 points
Robert Parker - Wine Advocate #162 (Dec 2005)

Produced from a blend of 62% Pinot Noir, 24% Chardonnay, 14% Meunier with only 5-6% red wine added. Over 85% coming from Grand and Premiers Cru vineyards.

Other Reviews….
Bollinger's rosé has a very attractive pinot-esque thread to the nose with bright ripe red cherry fruit aromas, dried roses and gently toasty nuances. The palate adds yellow peach to the equation. Extremely luscious and exuberant style. Drink now.
93 points
JamesSuckling.com

There's a briny, mineral-tinged waft of seashore adding complexity to flavors of black cherry, grilled plum, pastry, graphite and almond cream in this vibrant rosé, which offers mouthwatering acidity and finely detailed texture. Drink now through 2020.
93 points
Wine Spectator

The NV Brut Rosé, which was first introduced in 2008, offers classic, slightly tertiary notes of spiced cherries, dried strawberries, and rose petals. Clean, crisp, and chiseled on the palate, it’s much more firm and tight than the Special Cuvée, yet has a great finish, impeccable balance, and bright acidity. A blend of 62% Pinot Noir, 24% Chardonnay and the rest Pinot Meunier, with 30% vinified in barrel, it spent 30 to 36 months on lees. Give it a year or so.
92+ points
JebDunnuck.com

A blend of 65% Pinot Noir and 35% Chardonnay sourced from 21 different crus, mainly Ay and Verzenay for the Pinot Noir whilst for the Chardonnay Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oiry. Fermented entirely in aged oak barrels.
The 2012 Bollinger Grande Annee sits well in the glass with a foamy white mousse showing excellent hold over a straw to pale gold coloured base that has a steady stream of tiny bubbles flowing through it with great persistence. The refined nose has an understated intensity to it with scents of brioche, yeast lees, citrus and baked bread escaping from the glass. Light toast, cashew and honeyed characters are also present. The beautifully detailed palate shows an air of refinement, eloquently combing richness with freshness and a light satiny feel. Rich baked bread and yeast lees flavours are the drivers with citrus and pear fruits in the background along with cashew, light dried honey and faint toast. Dry chalk tinged finish with crisp mouth watering  acidity leading into a very long, finely textured aftertaste that possesses great poise and balance. A superb Grande Annee that showcases the finesse of the vintage.
Drink over the next 6-8 years.
Alc. 12%

Other Reviews…..
Disgorged in July 2019, Bollinger's 2012 Brut La Grande Année is showing well, offering up an incipiently complex bouquet of crisp yellow orchard fruit, fresh peach, orange oil, toasted walnuts and dried apricot that's still quite reserved with less than a year on cork. Full-bodied, deep and muscular, the 2012 is blockier and broader-shouldered than its 2008 predecessor, with a weightier and even more concentrated palate built around a bright spine of acidity, concluding with a chalky finish that carries appreciably dry extract. This isn't quite as elegant as the exquisite 2008, but it is a superb effort and obviously built to age. Drink 2024-2050.
95 points
William Kelley – Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate

The 2012 Grande Année is vibrant and wonderfully nuanced. Citrus peel, orchard fruit, brioche, dried flowers and chamomile are all finely knit in a Grand Année built on energy and persistence more than size. Readers will find a restrained Grand Année in 2012. There is plenty of the textural richness that is such a signature of the house style, but I am also struck by the wine's freshness. Best of all, the 2012 will drink well right out of the gate. It is quite expressive today, even in the early going. Drink 2020-2030.
94 points
Antonio Galloni – Vinous

This goes from zero to 60 right out of the gate, with an intense spine of acidity driving tightly meshed flavors of crushed black currant, ground coffee, candied grapefruit peel and toasted almond. The profile expands on the palate, carried by the fine, raw silk–like mousse. Richly aromatic and expressive from start to lasting, spiced finish. Disgorged July 2019. Drink now through 2037. 
97 points
Wine Spectator

Pours with a frothy mousse that shows good hold over the pale straw coloured base. Flecks of pale gold are littered around the edges and an exceptionally fine, vivid bead courses its way through the core. Complex aromatics of toasty yeast lees characters, pear, citrus, roasted almonds and brioche filter their way through the nostrils. Airy yet nimble across the palate with a satiny feel, pear and citrus fruits interplay with notions of yeast lees, light baked bread characters, subtle cashew and traces of oiliness. Excellent concentration and power finishing dry with crisp acidity and a long expressive aftertaste.
Drink over the next 6-8 years.
Alc. 12.5%

Other Reviews….
A firm and vivid Champagne with a precise, focused palate. Full-bodied and dry. It’s very layered and bright with light pineapple, peach, praline, cooked-apple and stone aromas and flavors. It’s very subtle and focused at the end. Integrated with richness and high acidity. Good depth. Reminds me of the 1995. Very clean. Solid. Lovely to drink already, but will age nicely.
98 points
JamesSuckling.com

A graceful Champagne, featuring fragrant notes of toasted brioche and grilled nut that are more subtle on the palate, with a rich underpinning layered with a pure chime of tangerine and accents of candied ginger, toasted saffron and lime blossom. This bundles a lot of concentrated flavor into a lithe frame, with the fine mousse caressing the palate through to the lasting finish. Drink now through 2035.
96 points
Wine Spectator

The challenging vintage (botrytis) may have reduced the usual massive production, using only the best fruit harvested with military precision. On tirage for 8 years. The complex and expressive bouquet opens for a palate with flavours from quince to honey circling around a core of stone fruit, the finish penetrating.
97 points
James Halliday's Top 100 2020

This is Krug's signature champagne, and while these Edition wines are non-vintage, Krug prefers to call them multi-vintage given they use a large proportion of reserve wines in the blend. Krug view this wine as their prestige cuvee, and it's the most important wine they produce each year. The 168eme Edition is a staggering blend of 198 wines from 11 vintages back to 1996, with the base wine hailing from the excellent 2012 vintage. The varietal mix of the base wine is 52% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 13% Pinot Meunier, and comprises 58% of blend, while 42% of reserve wines are used from 10 older vintages stretching back to 1996.

Other Reviews....
Krug's NV Grande Cuvée 168ème Édition is a classic in the making, wafting from the glass with aromas of dried fruits, pear, toasted nuts, orange zest, honeycomb and freshly baked bread. Medium to full-bodied, generous but incisive, it's deep and elegantly fleshy, with a beautifully refined mousse and an enveloping core of fruit that's complemented by the characteristic Krug patina of nutty complexity imparted by barrel fermentation. Even if this is more open out of the gates than the 2011-based 167ème edition, the 168ème edition is also the more concentrated and intense of the two. It's based on the 2012 harvest, complemented by fully 42% reserve wines—a blend of 198 wines from 11 different vintages dating back to 1996.
96 points
William Kelley - Wine Advocate (May 2020)

Krug’s NV Grande Cuvée 168éme Édition is based on the 2012 vintage. Apricot, chamomile, lemon confit, hazelnut and lightly honeyed notes resonate in a super-expressive, inviting Grande Cuvée that will drink well right out of the gate. The natural radiance of the year comes through beautifully. This release is a blend of 52% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 13% Meunier across a staggering 198 different wines from eleven vintages going back to 1996. Already quite expressive, the 168éme shows plenty of the signature Krug toasty notes in a style that offers tons of immediacy. Some recent releases have been more inward at this stage, but the 168éme is ready to go. Disgorged winter 2018/2019. Krug ID: 119001.
93 points
Antonio Galloni - Vinous

This is the latest cuvée launched in the UK in May 2020 but has already been available in the US and Japan. A blend of 198 wines from 11 different years, with the youngest the acclaimed 2012, back to a precious, powerfully aromatic lot of Verzenay Pinot Noir 1996. The final blend – 52% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 13% Meunier – was bottled in 2013 and aged for seven years in Krug’s cellars in Reims. Yields in 2012 were 20% lower than usual because of a succession of meteorological events including frost, rain, storms and hail in winter and spring 2012, followed by the driest ripening season since 1974.
Notably intense aroma with crème pâtissière dominant. Masses of extract and remarkable acidity underpinned by great depth of flavour and beautiful balance on the finish. I think this is going to be a really great, glamorous Grande Cuvée that will continue to develop in bottle for many years to come. I suspect it will be even more enjoyable from the end of 2020. The length on the palate is remarkable. This is magnificently precise, a great tribute to the work of the old cellarmaster Eric Lebel, who is still in the background, and a wonderful welcome to his successor Julie Cavil, who has been learning from him since 2006.
19/20 points
Jancis Robinson MW

52% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, 13% Pinot Meunier. A gentle gold with discreet yet persistent mousse and aromatics of spring meadows, lemon sherbet and barley sugar; the wine is pure and softly powerful, youthful energy finely poised, somewhat cautious after so many years in the chalky cellars. The reserve wines, Pinot Noir from Verzenay and Chardonnay from Avize especially, are subtle in support, vivacious despite their relative maturity, contributing to an ensemble which is hitherto dominated by red fruit, courtesy of the superb Pinot Noir, and a colourful tension. Behind that there are whispers of honey, quince and posset… and with so much more to come; but the finish, happily in these days of privation, takes one to wherever one may wish to go.
96 points
Simon Field MW - Decanter

From the producer of the world famous Cristal, this is an excellent non vintage Champagne that’s true to the Louis Roederer house style. A blend of around 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Meunier, it is aged on yeast lees for 3 years.

Louis Roederer’s Brut Premier has all you could want in a great non vintage Champagne.

A very frothy white mousse shows excellent hold hovering over a pale straw base with touches of pale gold to the edgings. Exceptionally fine and very profuse bead. Yeasty aromas of citrus, oily baked bread and light toast are followed by hints of cashew and subtle brioche. Rich with a gentle creaminess, yet fresh and refined, mouth-watering flavours of pear and citrus meld into yeast lees, oily baked bread like characters and subtle honeyed toast elements. Good complexity with a dry stimulating finish and long aftertaste.
Drink over the next 3-4 years.
Alc. 12%

Other Reviews.....
This has a core of fresh, extremely fleshy and attractive peaches and lemons from a ripe year. The delicacy and purity of this Champagne is stunning, as is its gently powerful nature. Such great purity here. In great form! Drink now.
93 points
JamesSuckling.com

The Champagne of Kings, this somewhat mythical Champagne has a cult following amongst pop and rap stars. Despite the hype this brings it never to fails to live up to it’s legendary status with wine critics, who consistently lavish it with high praise.

A satiny mousse flows to the top of the glass with a pale gold coloured base lying underneath. A fine stream of tiny bubbles flowing through its veins. Nosing reveals a rich combination of baked bread, roasted almonds, dried honey and yeast lees followed by cashew, citrus and toast notes. Refined and airy the palate is graced with pear, baked bread and yeast lees flavours that have a silk like feel. Notions of almond, light dried honey and toast also chime in. Well meshed it finishes dry and slightly chalky with sculptured acidity and a long tense yet expressive aftertaste.
Drink over the next 8-10 years.
Alc. 12%

Other Reviews….
The 2012 Cristal is another absolutely stellar wine this flight of recent releases. Rich, vinous and beautifully textured, the 2012 has been nothing short of magnificent on the three occasions I have tasted it so far. In the glass, the 2012 is radiant and luscious, yet it possesses remarkable transparency and striking aromatic depth. Light tropical notes develop in the glass, giving the 2012 a real feeling of exotic beauty. The 2012 is the first vintage of Cristal done with 100% organically-farmed fruit, an approach introduced gradually starting with the 2007 that has profoundly changes Cristal, especially in its aromatic breadth. Two thousand twelve is the vintage where endless trials and experiments in farming and winemaking are fully realized. The 2012 is just stunning. It’s as simple as that. Dosage is just over 7 grams per liter, the lowest it has even been for Cristal. Drink 2022-2052.
98 points
Antonio Galloni – Vinous

Aromas of clear honey, crisp green orchard fruit, white peach, pastry cream and dried white flowers introduce the 2012 Cristal, a full-bodied, concentrated and powerful wine that's built for the cellar. Broader, more textural and more muscular than the 2008 Cristal, with seemingly even greater reserves of structuring dry extract, the 2012 is incisive and searingly chalky. This is the first Cristal produced exclusively from organically farmed fruit, and it marks the opening of a new chapter for Louis Roderer. The blend is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, vinified without malolactic fermentation and disgorged with 7.5 grams per liter dosage. Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon has once again excelled himself. Drink 2022-2050.
97+ points
William Kelley – Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate

Such attractive, fresh, floral aromas here with fine bread, hints of white almonds and a lemon edge. White cherries and strong, chalky minerals, too. The palate has a very composed feel. Seamless and quite silky texture with effortless length and flow. Very fluid and composed. Very late, warming almond flavors. This is very long and smooth with a velvety finish. Super long pinot weight. Resolved and drinkable, but will age so well.
98 points
JamesSuckling.com

A classic beauty, fresh-faced and focused today but with a harmonious grace of form suggesting a long career ahead. There's a creamy, viscous quality to the mousse that swathes the palate, carrying finely detailed flavors of poached quince, Mandarin orange preserves, toasted almond and pickled ginger. Mouthwatering throughout, with a pleasing, soft zestiness to the mineral-laced finish. Drink now through 2035. 
97 points
Wine Spectator

60/40% pinot noir/chardonnay, 32% vinifed in old oak casks, no mlf, 7.5g/l dosage. Forget the hype of New York, this is a beautiful wine, with a burst of sunbeams in a springtime garden of white flowers. The length of the palate and its aftertaste are magnificent. A total contrast to Krug in style.
98 points
James Halliday's Top 100 2020

As the first 100% biodynamic Cristal, entirely from Roederer-owned vineyards, this is an important milestone. This latest incarnation is a great Champagne with its density, elegance and poise. Still impressively young, the wine is taut, tightly wound and textured. At the same time, it has pure, ripe white and citrus fruits that are perfumed, and an important part of this wine’s long-term future. Drink at the earliest from 2023.
98 points
Wine Enthusiast

A fine satiny mousse dissipates to reveal a pale gold coloured base that has a steady stream of nibble bubbles coursing through it. On the nose, classic Champagne aromatics of yeast lees and baked bread overlay more subtle notes of pear, citrus, dried honey, cashew and faint toast. Mouth wateringly fresh yet also gently creamy in its feel, the palate is graced with pear, citrus, lightly toasted baked bread and yeast lees flavours. Subtle cashew and minerally oyster shell like characters chime in on the dry crisp finish. Long airy aftertaste.
Drink over the next 5-6 years.
Alc. 12%

Other Reviews….
The palate here is very expressive and voluminous. Plenty of pinot-noir, sliced-strawberry flavor. Very rich and round and very assertive, this is so long and complete already. Pink fruit and berries in abundance and a sizzling, mineral finish. Fresh resolve here. Impressive! Drink now or hold.
96 points
JamesSuckling.com

Sublime and delicate on the nose, this wine is such a baby at the moment, you will need to clear a space in the cellar for this one.
I felt almost poetic writing the notes for the 2013, summer meadows, juicy peaches, fresh strawberries, lemon zest, creamy lemon posset, peach blossoms and toasted hazelnut crumble. A blend of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, the 2013 has spent 4 years on its lees and another 6 months resting after disgorgement but I would be really keen to see this in another 10 years time. The potential for this to hold on to its incredibly taut and balanced acidity whilst letting the fresh, fruity and floral flavours develop into something mature and complex with rich nuttiness, candied citrus zest, dried fruits and a savoury umami element ripe for pairing with a rich dinner like roast pork with crackling and roasted seasonal vegetables. Patience has its rewards. Drink 2020-2033.
94 points
Curly Haslam-Coates – The Wine Front