Michael Fridjhon WINE Experience 2004 (Billecart-Salmon)

Michael Fridjhon WINE Experience 2004

A highlight of South Africa's WINE Experience this year will be the tasting of all the Billecart-Salmon Champagnes. Michael Fridjhon, who co-hosts this prestigious annual event with WINE magazine, explains what defines Billecart-Salmon.The Michael Fridjhon WINE Experience will be held on 28 and 29 August at the Park Hyatt, Johannesburg. Early-bird bookings and payments of R4 350 can be made until 11 June while the normal fee for the full package of events is R4 950. For more information or to find out the cost of individual tasting sessions, please call 011 482 5936 or email alex@outsorceress.co.za.

Guests at this year's Michael Fridjhon WINE Experience will be tasting all the Billecart-Salmon Champagnes over the course of the weekend.

What's more, Antoine Billecart, the seventh generation Billecart to direct the house, will present a tasting of several wines vinified specially for the event to illustrate the effect of even slight variations in the composition of the vin de dosage.

He will also present the first public tasting worldwide of the prestige cuvées of the 1996 vintage - an indication of the stature the WINE Experience has gained in international wine making circles.

Very few of the great houses of Champagne remain in the control of the families that founded them. Brand building comes at a considerable price, one that increases over time. The capital required to fund the reserve stocks that provide the stylistic continuity that defines the marque has often become too great a cost for a single family to bear. French inheritance laws add their own burden.

Most of the houses founded in the 18th and 19th century were corporatised, taken over or amalgamated by the last decade of the millennium. Of the sprinkling still in the hands of the founding families, Billecart-Salmon stands out for its single-minded dedication to the cuvées developed over the seven generations of its existence.

Nicolas-Francois Billecart established the business in 1818, adding his wife's maiden name (Salmon) to his own, creating a Champagne brand that has remained unchanged in nearly 200 years. Over the years the Billecarts have acquired very little land. They farm only about 10% of their grape requirements, preferring to purchase fruit on contract. This ensures that only the best grapes from the finest sites go into their wine.

The average ranking of all their cuvées is above 95% - an extraordinary achievement considering that only Grand Cru vineyards are scored 100%, while Premier Crus range from 90% to 99%. Of the 25 000 hectares under vine within the Champagne appellation, less than 40% are classified growths.

Billecart-Salmon has always sought to balance the house style with a true cross-section of the best of the region's districts. The result is that 40% of its grapes are sourced from the Côte des Blancs, 30% from the Montagne de Reims and 30% from the Vallée de la Marne, close to Epernay.
This means that by far the greatest percentage of most of its wines derive from red grapes - both Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir. However, as Champagne aficionado Tom Stevenson has observed, "the lightness and fragrance of these wines belie their Pinot content and indeed their potential longevity".

Those fortunate enough to taste older vintages from perfect storage are always impressed by their balance and freshness. The Rosé alone seems to perform best when young - Stevenson maintaining that "it is the one Billecart-Salmon Champagne I would recommend drinking early".

Unsurprisingly, the vinification is rigorously managed from the moment the grapes or must arrive at the cellars in Mareuil-sur-Ay - the village on the edge of the Montagne de Reims where the family has lived since the 16th century. The juice handling is obsessively reductive: even the slightest oxidation would result in a loss of the characteristic freshness that is a hallmark of the Billecart style.

A vast number of very small tanks or vats ensures that the grapes from individual sites can be separately vinified. All the wines undergo malolactic fermentation. The cuvées' composition arises from the commitment to complexity and consistency, with wines from over 20 separate growths blended together to achieve this result.

The Brut Réserve has been made to the same basic formula since 1945, using Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier from three different years from the best sites of the Marne. The result is a particularly vinous Champagne which shows that defining floral freshness even with several years of bottle age.

The same basic cuvée is used for the Demi-Sec, with the added sweetness resulting from the higher dosage. It is, incidentally, one of the few Champagnes with eau-de-vie in the liqueur d'expedition.

The Brut Rosé - whose production "rules" were laid down seven generations ago with the launch of the "Silley Rosé in 1830 - is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir. This is vinified as white wine, and then blended with a small percentage of Pinot Noir vinified as a red. The result offers an extraordinary aroma of ripe pears harmonised with delicate but discernible notes of red fruit. It is one of the best and best-known Rosé Champagnes and accounts for over 10% of Billecart's sales.

The Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs is sourced from five vineyards in the Côte des Blancs. It is obviously 100% Chardonnay, blended from two different vintages. It is only released when it is already showing aromas of grilled almonds and pear, layered with whiffs of grapefruit. It differs in style from the single vintage Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs, a Champagne which reveals mineral and more citrus-like notes in its youth, and becomes more floral with a little bottle age.

Of the rare prestige cuvées, the one named after the founder of the house - Nicolas Francois Billecart - dates back to 1964. It is a blend of grand crus from the Côte des Blancs and the Montagne de Reims. Part of the vinification is conducted in small old Burgundy casks, a process which allows for a degree of development and evolution to enhance the natural vinosity of the wine. The hallmark freshness of the Billecart-Salmon house style is evident on the aroma, while the palate shows richness and persistence, layered with subtle notes of brioche and baked bread.

The Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon - a tribute to the co-founder of the house - is a Rosé Champagne comprising equal parts of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vinified as white wine, to which a little Pinot Noir, vinified as a red wine, has been added to bring out the colour. Its coppery-pink glints are as appealing as the hazelnut aromas and the spicy, yet delicate finish.