2009 Billecart-Salmon "Le Clos Saint-Hilaire" Brut Blanc de Noirs Champagne 1.5L 3 bottle case

The 2009 Extra Brut Le Clos Saint-Hilaire is stellar. I can’t remember a young Clos Saint-Hilaire with this much sheer immediacy. Then again, we are talking about 2009. Blood orange, spice, gingerbread and new leather play off a core of vibrant, red-toned Pinot fruit. Blocking the malolactic fermentation further emphasizes energy. The 2009 finishes with mind-blowing purity and exceptional finesse. This is the first vintage with some of the production bottled in magnum. The essence of Pinot. Dosage is 2 grams per liter. Disgorged: January 2024. (AG)

Billecart-Salmon's sheltered walled garden of Pinot Noir in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ has really come into its own in 2009, yielding a wine with all the intensity and volume that this cuvée tends to carry, but held in a more juicy, less firmly drawn structure than the preceding vintages. Indeed the soft generosity of 2009 seems to play to this wine's strengths. The end result is the most approachable and downright enjoyable Clos St-Hilaire of recent times, effortlessly carrying all its fruit of fresh fig, dried pear, roasted red plum and apricot kernel with heady baklava notes and darker, complex aromas of sweet walnut and cocoa. There's a very welcome shot of bright, malic acidity which which pulls this expansive, warm-hearted Champagne into focus beautifully. (TH)