Vin Champagne Billecart-Salmon

Billecart-Salmon is one of the few remaining Champagne houses to be owned by the original family and was established in 1818 by Nicolas-François Billecart. With respect to harvest one of the most distinctive aspects of Billecart-Salmon is their philosophy that an early harvest yields more elegant and delicate champagnes. They look for a elegant and strong acid structure rather than alcohol as a preservative and therefore, never harvest at higher than 10 degrees of potential alcohol. Another defining characteristic of Billecart-Salmon is their practice of double cold settling which they began in 1952. This practice eliminates any wild yeasts and additional heavy elements without the use of enzymes, filtering or a centrifuge. As of 2001, Billecart-Salmon moved their winemaking into a brand new facility that they believe to be the most technically advanced in Champagne. The intricate and precise nature of Francois Domi's winemaking demanded that the family use every available resource to create the perfect environment for the production of these truly stellar champagnes. The ability to perform as many as 75 micro-fermentations simultaneously allows M. Domi the luxury of keeping many of his parcels separate until the blending phase. Most of Billecart-Salmon's fruit comes from a small vineyard holding, though this is supplemented with grapes bought in from the Marne Valley and the Montagne de Reims.