Billecart-Salmon Clos St Hilaire 2007 750 mL

Beautifully complex and mineral with notes of chalk, blanched almonds, dried raspberries, rose petals, pink grapefruit, nutmeg and pink peppercorns. Complex, tight and structured, with a medium to full body, plenty of strength yet elegant. Tight bubbles. Long, firm and savory. Single parcel pinot noir, 100% vinified in oak barrels. No malo. Disgorged May 2023. 3.8g/L dosage. Drink or hold.

A deeper golden hue, the 2007 Champagne Le Clos Saint Hillaire comes from a difficult year, but Billecart-Salmon made all their top wines in this vintage. Offering a good bit of power and elegance, the wine has ripe red fruit notes of raspberry liqueur, black cherries, crystalized ginger, caramel, orange peel, and very distinctive and intense mineral aromatics. Medium to full-bodied, it has fantastic energy and none of the greenness that can be found in 2007 sometimes. Long and persistent on the palate, with a peppery mousse and a lightly warming finish, it’s a very successful wine in this difficult vintage. Drink 2024-2040. – Audrey Frick

he 2007 Extra Brut Le Clos Saint-Hilaire is shockingly accessible for a young vintage of this wine. Silky and plush, with terrific depth, the 2007 is already quite accessible. Kirsch, plum, dried flowers, chamomile and dried herbs build, filling out the layers effortlessly. I can’t remember tasting a Clos Saint-Hilaire that is this wine-like. White flowers, chalk, mint and white pepper open with air, adding palpable freshness to a core of chiseled Pinot fruit. In a word: dazzling. Dosage is 2 grams per liter. Disgorged: second trimester 2023.

(96+ points) Disgorged in the second quarter of 2023, the 2007 Brut Le Clos Saint-Hilaire displays its charm, evoking a refined and pure bouquet of ripe orchard fruits, mint, white pepper, licorice and jasmine. Medium-bodied and taut, the palate is marked by crystalline precision and a vinous, delicate texture that segues into a saline, subtly bitter finish that complements its gastronomic profile. This vintage beautifully expresses the distinguished calcareous terroir of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, making it a refined and appealing Champagne with a dosage of two grams per liter. This is 100% Pinot Noir. – Yohan Castaing

2007 presents a rather different version of Le Clos St-Hilaire from the previous two releases (2006 and 2005). The hallmarks of the wine are very much there, with plenty of signs of maturity in the apricot kernel, chestnut honey and dark, tangy roasted apple fruit, with a welcome jolt of pink grapefruit-like acidity squeezing hard with some of the firmness and tension of the vintage. Despite this physical brightness, it is already in a nicely aligned spot to drink, with its autumnal ageing profile a little more present (at least in the bottle tasted) than was the case on release of the 2006 or 2005. Made with Pinot Noir from the family’s historic walled garden in the village of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, 100% vinified in oak and aged on lees for 14 years.