2006 Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Nicolas Francois Billecart Brut is sold out.

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Billecart-Salmon’s Top Bottle: A Vintage “Jewel”

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2006 Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Nicolas Francois Billecart Brut 750 ml

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  • Curated by unrivaled experts
  • Choose your delivery date
  • Temperature controlled shipping options
  • Get credited back if a wine fails to impress

Champagne of the Millennium—Twice Over

Billecart-Salmon is revered by just about every Champagne lover in the world. And the only thing that makes our mouths water more than the black-labeled Brut Réserve are vintage bottlings like their rare and delectable 2006 Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Nicolas François Brut. 

The 2006 is the latest iteration of a tête de cuvée bottling that beat out 150+ top vintages of Krug, Dom Pérignon, and other bubblies in 1999’s monumental “Champagne of the Millennium” tasting—in fact, two separate vintages took the top two spots. Cuvée Nicolas François is among the very best in Champagne—think Dom Pérignon and Louis Roederer Cristal at $66 and $145 less per bottle. 

Deep golden and copper-toned after a full ten years aging on the lees, the 2006 boasts a complex nose of brioche and almond, and a broad, rich palate of tension and poise. It’s a “jewel of a wine,” according to the 97-point review from Antonio Galloni of Vinous, and it will delight over the next decade or more. 

The critics aren’t the only ones in love with Billecart: Wine Access members adore the icon to the tune of 4.9 out of 5 stars—a rating unbeaten by any other winery we sell, bar none. We’ve got just 120 bottles of this exceptional 2006 to go around.

The nature of 200-year-old Billecart-Salmon is summed up in the story of New York wine legend Neal Rosenthal, who first obtained the Champagne in 1979 through a mercurial importer. It quickly became a sensation at Rosenthal’s shop. And when his relationship with the importer soured and it seemed like Billecart might slip away, Rosenthal flew to Mareuil-sur-Aÿ to plead with the proprietor face-to-face—that’s how essential he believed the incomparable Champagne to be to his survival. 

We don’t like thinking about life without Billecart either—especially the rare thrill of vintage offerings like Cuvée Nicolas François. Created in 1964 as a tribute to the house’s founder, it consists of 60% Pinot Noir from Montagne de Reims and 40% Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs—all from Premier and Grand Cru vineyards

The Champagne is vinified primarily in stainless steel, with 5% fermented in oak barrels, and Billecart blocks malolactic conversion to preserve the steely tension that they reap in the vineyard by never harvesting at more than ten degrees of potential alcohol. They stick to this regimen because they believe that a strong acid structure acts as the best preservative for the wine, and ultimately yields the most elegant and delicate Champagne. 

All the wine’s nervy tension is mellowed by ten years on the lees, which adds the kind of toasted complexity that can only come from a patient aging program. Now showing that cellar-earned maturity beautifully, this Champagne will thrive in the cellar for more than a decade—Galloni even believes this bottle’s best days are well ahead of it. 

This is the perfect kind of special occasion bubbly to have on hand, a cellar-worthy Champagne that will delight you anytime you choose to open it. Let that be in a month or in a decade—just don’t let yourself miss out on one of our 120 bottles.