Billecart Salmon "Cuvee Louis Salmon" Brut Blanc de Blancs 2013
(Champagne, France) - [VM 97] [WE 97] [WA 96+] [JD 96+] [JS 96] [DM 94]

About the Domaine:
In 1818, Nicolas François Billecart and his wife Elisabeth Salmon founded the house of Billecart-Salmon in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, which now stands as the oldest continuously family-owned and operated house in Champagne. The estate is currently managed by the family’s seventh generation, brothers François and Antoine Roland-Billecart, while the cellars lie in the hands of Florent Nys.

After 33 years, François Domi has handed over the baton of Chief Winemaker to Florent, who has been working as an apprentice under the watchful eye of François since 2005, is now ready to take over the reins.

About this Wine:

This cuvée is made up of the following 3 Grand Cru within the Côte des Blancs:

• Chouilly
• Mensil-sur-Oger
• Cramant

Named in tribute to Louis, Elisabeth Salmon’s brother, who was passionate about oenology and highly involved in from the earliest creation of the House. Originating from the best parcels of the Côte des Blancs, the Blanc de Blancs vintage is impressed with purity and minerality. 

25% vinified in oak casks

dosage: 3.9 g/l

aged on the lees: 115 months

On the palate, this champagne possesses yellow fruits such as pineapple, lemon, and yellow apples, along with white flowers, white pepper, and lingering chalky flavors.

Ratings & Reviews

97 Points - Vinous Media:
"The 2013 Brut Blancs de Blancs Louis Salmon is a powerful, dense Champagne that captures all the intensity of this late-ripening year. Apricot, peach, tangerine oil, mint and tropical inflections fill out the layers. Dense and very young, the 2013 is built for the cellar. It’s a seriously impressive wine from Billecart-Salmon. The blend is 44% Cramant, 26% Chouilly, 25% Le Mesnil and 5% Oiry, done entirely in tank with full malolactic fermentation." – Antonio Galloni (May 2026)

97 Points - Wine Enthusiast:
"A stunning expression that captures the purity of the Côte de Blancs. The nose is ripe and inviting, with orchard fruit framed by a yeasty backdrop, delicate sweet florals and a touch of honey. The palate adds fresh peach, toasted-yeasty notes, a hint of iodine, white pepper and white rose, all delivered with precision and linearity. Finely structured and poised, this holds long-term aging potential." - Anna-Christina Cabrales (Apr 2026)

96+ Points - Wine Advocate:
"The reference point of Billecart-Salmon’s contemporary direction, the 2013 Blanc de Blancs Louis Salmon, disgorged in January 2024 with four grams per liter dosage, stands as the most characterful wine of the new lineup, expressing itself from the glass with aromas of early-blooming white flowers, lemon oil, nashi pear and almond paste mingled with cardamom, oyster shell and freshly baked bread. On the palate, it is medium- to full-bodied and elegantly muscular, with a tensile core of crystalline purity, racy acids and ample chalky extract. Harvested in October, it derives from the communes of Cramant, Chouilly, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oiry and was vinified entirely in stainless steel with full malolactic fermentation in pursuit of greater harmony in a cool-profile vintage such as this. It is slightly more elegant and simultaneously less powerful than the 2012 rendition, yet it remains equally compelling. Stylistically, it shares certain affinities with the 2008 and 1996 vintages, albeit with more fully realized ripeness." – Kristaps Karklins (Feb 2026)

96+ Points - Jeb Dunnuck:
"The 2013 Champagne Blanc de Blancs Louis Salmon is a stunning wine produced from the villages of Cramant, Chouilly, Mesnil-sur-Oger, and Oiry, and was raised in stainless steel. Displaying a golden yellow hue, it is incredibly expressive, offering elegance and depth, with notes of preserved lemon, poppy seed cake, custard, poached apple, pineapples, and salty earth. Long and full on the palate, it’s quite complete and has verticality that drives the wine. A very interesting and compelling wine, it stands out in the range for its energy and completeness. Disgorged in Jan 2024, with 4 grams per liter dosage and 4.5 total residual sugar. Drink 2026-2047." – Audrey Frick (Dec 2025)

96 Points - James Suckling:
"This blanc de blancs is very pure and fresh, showing white flowers, light hazelnuts, peaches and grapefruit on the nose, with a hint of oyster shells. It's sleek and chalky on the palate, linear and racy, with very fine bubbles and a bright acidic backbone. 100% stainless steel vinification. Chardonnay from Cramant, Chouilly, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and some Oiry. 4 g/L dosage. Disgorged January 2024. Drink or hold." (Jul 2025)

94 Points - Decanter Magazine:
"Still embryonic, after two encounters Billecart-Salmon's vintage blanc de blancs is still keeping its cards close to its chest. Although far from taut or austere in late-ripening, cool 2013 it is still resting on an almost primary freshness of Comice pear, sweet lime and toasted nut, lifted with a little jasmine and gentle charred-bread lees-ageing richness. It's poised, quiet and balanced, cut with appealing bitter citrus rather than seeming overtly driven, tense or chalky as some vintage blanc de blancs of the year have proven. It is a little hard to fast-forward at present, and this score may prove conservative, but time on cork here seems set to bring greater resolution and depth to this effortlessly pretty blanc de blancs, hailing all from grands crus of the Côte des Blancs." – Tom Hewson (Feb 2026)