Houses
Billecart-Salmon
A family house in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, founded in 1818, admired for a meticulous cellar practice of cold settling and long slow fermentations that yield a delicate, precise house style.
- Founded
- 1818
- Location
- Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Champagne, France
- Ownership
- Family-owned (Billecart family)
- Known for
- Delicate, finely textured house style · Brut Rosé (one of champagne's most copied rosés) · Cold settling (débourbage à froid) and long, cool fermentations
- Official site
- www.champagne-billecart.fr
Style
Billecart-Salmon is best known technically for cold settling (débourbage à froid) of the must before fermentation and for long, cool primary fermentations at around 12 °C. The combination gives the wines a distinctive clean, precise aromatic profile that has drawn consistent praise from critics.
Cuvées
- Brut Réserve — the NV, Meunier / Chardonnay / Pinot Noir blend.
- Blanc de Blancs Brut — 100% Chardonnay NV.
- Brut Rosé — the house’s best-known wine, a blend with a small red-wine addition; influential as a style template.
- Brut Nature — zero-dosage NV.
- Cuvée Nicolas-François — vintage, honouring the founder, Nicolas-François Billecart.
- Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Rosé — vintage prestige rosé.
- Le Clos Saint-Hilaire — single-vineyard 100% Pinot Noir monopole; among the rarest cuvées in champagne.
History
Founded in 1818 by Nicolas-François Billecart and Elisabeth Salmon (hence the double-barrelled name) in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, on the south side of the Marne. The house has stayed in the Billecart family across seven generations — an unusual continuity even by champagne standards — and remains fully family-owned today.