Champagne Brut Le Clos Saint-Hilaire 2007 - Billecart-Salmon

Billecart-Salmon

Family champagne house since 1818

Billecart-Salmon is one of the most famous champagne houses in the entire world. Founded in 1818 by soon to be wed Nicolas-François Billecart and Élisabeth Salmon (who married in May 1820), this brand new house located in the center of the village of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ (in the Marne Valley) cultivated their 14 hectares of vineyard at the time, in Mareuil and Chouilly. Louis Salmon, Nicolas-François' brother-in-law, soon joined the couple and became the head of the house's sales department. As for Nicolas-François, he dedicated himself entirely to winemaking.

Inspired by the work of renowned chemist and pharmacist Jean-Baptiste François, who studied the fermentation process of Champagne wines, Nicolas-François Billecart decided to start producing sparkling wines as well. Slowly, his cuvées found an audience and the Billecart-Salmon duo ended up opening smaller shops all over Europe, Russia and North-Africa. The champagne house even became the official supplier of King Louis I of Bavaria. After living his life to the fullest, Nicolas-François died in 1858. He left the business in the capable hands of his son Charles Billecart, who had been working with him at the estate since he was 17 (in 1840).

Charles was a bonafide globe-trotter, who spent a lot of time all over the world promoting the Billecart-Salmon champagne. The United States were the young man's first target, but it seemed that the country was not ready for such champagnes just yet. No matter! Charles left New York and came back to Europe, so he could develop wine exports to the United Kingdom and Germany, all the while strengthening his presence in France.

Pol Billecart, the son of Charles, inherited the family house when his father died, in 1888. This hedonistic dandy quickly realized the potential of the Billecart-Salmon champagne and decided to aim for a more well-off clientele. Thanks to him, the house was featured during the Universal Exhibition of Paris, in 1900, among other huge French champagne brands. On top of promoting the brand and turning it into an icon of French prestige, Pol also invested a hefty sum to improve the entire production chain, with the help of his sister Juliette Billecart's son.

That nephew of his was called Charles Roland-Billecart. The boy who'd later become the house's new president in 1916, when his uncle passed away. When he came back from the war, Charles opted for a new strategy: instead of organizing huge events like Pol used to do when he wanted to showcase his champagnes, the young man decided to go with door-to-door selling as well as shipping his bottles to high-end department stores. Charles was also one of the founders of the French "Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne", the famous CIVC.

In 1940, Jean Roland-Billecart, the son of Charles, started working at the champagne house. He became the new owner in 1963, following his father's death. This young oenologist revolutionized the winemaking methods used by the house Billecart-Salmon by enforcing low temperature fermentation and refrigerated settling as soon as 1958. These two important changes helped the champagne to gain a newfound freshness and smoothness that are now an entire part of their identity. The man everybody called "Monsieur Jean" was also the creative mind behind the "Nicolas François" cuvée in 1964 (in honor of the founder), the resurrection of the "Brut Rosé" champagne during the 1970's, and the "Élisabeth Salmon" cuvée (a nod to the house's second founder, that released in 1988).

François Roland-Billecart made his entrance in the house Billecart-Salmon in 1987, then ended up becoming its new manager in 1993. He worked closely with his younger brother Antoine, who came to the estate in 1984. The two brothers then designed the new Clos Saint-Hilaire in 1995, boosted the exports to foreign markets and chose to leave behind supermarkets. Instead, they would only sell their champagnes to wine merchants, bars and luxury restaurants. Such a new repositioning was clearly aimed at high-end distributors.

Today, the seventh generation of the Billecart-Salmon family is entering the fray. Mathieu Roland-Billecart, François' first cousin once removed, spent five years with his relative, learning everything he could about Billecart-Salmon and winemaking. In 2019, Mathieu was elected as the new president. This young and hyper-demanding manager had to find his roots so he could take on the mantle and make his ancestors proud. Currently, the grapevines owned by Billecart-Salmon span more than a hundred hectares, with 40 different crus growing there. Here in this Champagne vineyard, far away from the abstract matters of the City of London where he studied, Jean seems to have found his true calling.

Discover the Billecart-Salmon champagne.