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, Vallée de la Marne, 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
- Grapes
- Chardonnay (4) · Pinot Noir (4) · Meunier (1)
- 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.
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.
Cuvées
-
Billecart-Salmon Clos Saint-Hilaire Prestige
blanc de blancs · brut · millésimé
100% Chardonnay · 100% Pinot Noir
-
Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Prestige
rose · brut · millésimé
50% Chardonnay · 50% Pinot Noir
-
Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Nicolas-François Prestige
assemblage · brut · millésimé
60% Chardonnay · 40% Pinot Noir
-
assemblage · brut · NV
40% Pinot Meunier · 30% Chardonnay · 30% Pinot Noir
Recent
- Release
Billecart-Salmon has launched a ratafia, marking the house's entry into one of Champagne's most uncommon fortified wine categories.
Read article Terre de Vins 15 July 2026
- Note
Billecart-Salmon is among a very small number of producers engaging seriously with ratafia production, a traditional fortified wine of the Champagne region.
Read article Terre de Vins 15 July 2026
- Note
Mathieu Roland-Billecart serves as chief executive of Billecart-Salmon.
Read article Wine Industry Advisor 26 June 2026