Photo courtesy: Johnny

                         Thanks to Yu Zhou for hunting this gem from Macau

When champagne nuts talk about grand Blanc de Noirs, three holy names are eagerly pronounced: Vieilles Vignes Francaises (commercial debut vintage 1969) from ungrafted vines by Bollinger, Le Clos Saint-Hilaire (debut vintage 1995) by Billecart-Salmon, and of course, the whopping-expensive Clos d'Ambonnay (debut vintage 1995) by Krug! Despite their own legends and styles, all share some devout values in common: passionate love of the vines and the soils, rigorous selection and quality control, proud house art of wine-making (all the three see oak), so as to bring out the glory of noble Pinot Noir, the unique terroir and the traditional house-style.

Always belonged to the Billecart-Salmon family, the one hectare vineyard of Clos Saint-Hilaire, named after the patron saint of Mareuil-sur-Ay (99% rated Premier Cru but undoubtedly Grand Cru quality -- this village is also home to the legendary Clos des Goisses by Philipponnat), is an unbroken and enclosed plot with a complete vinification installation in situ. Hallmarked by chalk and alluvial soil, the Clos was planted with Pinot Noir vines in 1964, which, before 1995, had been used to produce still red wines for blending Billecart-Salmon rose champagnes. With successful acquisitions of other vineyards, Billecart-Salmon family was finally able to afford showcasing the glorious terroir of Le Clos Saint-Hilaire by launching this single-vineyard, oak-aged Blanc de Noirs.

Only 3,360 bottles were produced of this debut vintage 1995 (while the production of subsequent vintages ranges from 3,500 to 7,500 bottles, depending on harvest condition; and only 3 vintages have been released so far: 95, 96 and 98), which were disgorged in 2003 and bottled with zero dosage (while starting with 96 vintage, a minimum dosage is added, 4.6 gram/liter in the case of 96). The idea behind zero/min. dosage is, of course, to let the purity of fruit and the character of terroir shine through and evolve on their own.

So meeting this debut vintage 1995 of Le Clos Saint-Hilaire is a DREAM come true for me! One morning in the spring of 2008, I felt like winning a lottery as I listened to my friend Yu Zhou's excited voice from Macau over mobile phone, pronouncing the name of this magic cuvee!

After patience of almost 2 years' further cellaring, we decided, with nervousness and anticipations, to uncork this special bottle for 2010.                        (to be continued...)