Billecart Salmon Brut Rose (375 ml)

When Billecart-Salmon relaunched their Brut Rosé in the 1970s, pale Champagne rosé was still considered a lesser category — the house's insistence on Chardonnay-dominant structure and a still-wine addition from a named Mareuil-sur-Aÿ vineyard helped rewrite that perception. The chalk-dominant soils of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, sitting at the southern foot of the Montagne de Reims, deliver Pinot Noir of taut, mineral precision rather than broad fruit weight — the geological backbone that keeps this rosé driven by tension rather than sweetness.

The blend runs 30% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinot Meunier, with 8–10% still red Pinot Noir sourced exclusively from the old-vine Valofroy vineyard in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ — a named-site addition rare at this price tier. Primary fermentation proceeds in 40-hl thermoregulated stainless-steel tanks using the house's signature double cold-settling followed by low-temperature fermentation at ~13°C over 3–4 weeks — a technique borrowed from brewing by Jean Roland-Billecart in 1958 that strips phenolic roughness and locks in aromatic precision. Lees aging runs a minimum of 3 years in 17th-century chalk tunnels, well beyond the NV legal floor, before disgorgement at Extra Brut dosage. The named Valofroy source — not a generic red-wine addition — is what separates this from most NV rosé Champagnes at this tier.