2015 Billecart-Salmon Rosé Champagne

This is absolutely glorious, coming from what would normally be the Cuvee Elizabeth from Billecart-Salmon, but their choosing to declassify it give us the best 2015 Champagne I've ever tasted and probably the best Champagne I've tasted so far this year. The nose after opening for a little while is full of plump alpine strawberries, white plum flesh, blood orange zest, the middle of a loaf of fresh brioche, and a whisper of hyacinths. The palate unfathomably dense and deep, the fruit is spritely and bright with white strawberry, blood orange pith, and a little bit of green apple. This is not just a Champagne, this is an experience. This is something you want to sit and dig into the whole time, slowly peeling it back layer by layer, and every time you think you have it figured out something else comes to the forefront. This is like the best book you've ever read, the one that made you just turn page after page after page until you had finished it, and then when you were done you felt like something was taken from you. This bottle is a transcendent magical portal that will take you into a newer and better future, because you'll have had this bottle.

This is a real treat from Billecart-Salmon! The complexity of this Champagne is stunning. It has gorgeous aromatics of raspberry coulis, fresh wild strawberries and a touch of tulip. Palate is expressive with berries note lingering on and saline minerality backing it up. It's long and mouthwatering on the finish. Definitely opening up with more nuances as it decants itself in your glass. Great Champagne to enjoy slowly, letting it unwrap itself like a flower.