Two of the Greatest 2008 Vintage Champagnes
For $40+ BELOW Market Price
#1. Hailed as the "Queen of Rose" this monumental release is the finest you can serve now, and will also evolve in your cellar for another 30 years.
2008 Billecart-Salmon 'Cuvee Elisabeth Salmon' Brut Rose Champagne
Total Wine's Price: $259.99
Average Online: $249.00
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#2. This sold out back in February—but 9 more bottles will arrive next week!
2008 Piper-Heidsieck Rare Millesime Brut Vintage Champagne
BevMo's Price: $279.99
Wine.com's Price: $249.99
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About Piper Rare: This tete de cuvée is only made only made in years when weather conditions are considered perfect for what their cellarmaster Regis Camus calls 'an extraordinary cuvée', when the grapes receive enough heat to become truly lush. The first Rare vintage was made in 1976 after an incredibly intense heatwave. Since then, there have only been 10 more Rare cuvées: 1979, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2006, 2007 (their first-ever rosé) and this long-awaited 2008 release offered today.
Rare cuvées can contain up to 17 crus, from some of the best sites throughout the Champagne region. The blends can be different from one vintage to another, too: their Cellar Master blends among the different crus just like an artist would use different colors in his painting palette. The style remains the same but the components will change according to the vintage.
We've done several wine dinners and tastings over the years featuring 1988-2007 vintages. Everyone was always blown away — so much so, that an attendee served the magnum release of 1998 at his wedding.
In case you haven't heard yet, 2008 was a phenomenally great vintage for Champagne, as you can see in this quote from Antonio Galloni:
"The 2008s are racy, energetic and tense, in the style of cool years like 1996, but with more fruit depth and less austerity. At the top end, the finest 2008 Champagnes are viscerally thrilling, chiseled wines that will soon be recognized as modern-day icons. Temperatures were never too hot during the summer and ripening was gradual. 2008 is a year with high acidity, approaching 10% in some cases, and also high potential natural alcohol (because of the improved weather in September), a combination that yielded vibrant, crystalline Champagnes. Of course wine is much more complex than numbers alone, but the first 2008s I have tasted point to an exceptional, and perhaps even legendary, vintage."
From Tom Stevenson (co-author of the Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine and founder of the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships):
“2008 is one of the greatest champagne vintages of my lifetime...So fine and focused, unbelievably long, with great precision, purity and intensity, yet barely perceptible weight.”
Alastair Woolmer of Farr Vintners had this to say:
“From what I have seen so far, 2008 is the best young champagne vintage I have ever tasted...The 2008s have a very similar energy and intensity to the great 1996s, but with arguably better balance and more consistency. It could well prove to be the best champagne vintage since 1988.”
Most of the important 2008s have been completely sold out for years by now.
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2008 Billecart-Salmon 'Cuvee Elisabeth Salmon' Brut Rose Champagne
98 Points - James Suckling:
"This is very vinous with aromas of iron, strawberries, old roses and geraniums. So aromatic. Full-bodied, really intense and layered with super dryness and depth. Lots of saline and spicy character at the end, such as clove and pepper, as well as hints of flowers and melted butter. Strawberry tart at the end. 17% in aged oak casks. Blend of 55% pinot noir from six villages (Mareuil sur Ay, Ay, Bouzy, Ambonnay, Verzenay and Verzy) and 45% chardonnay from three Grand Crus (Mesnil sur Oger, Cramant and Chouilly). 9% of the blend is red wine from a parcel in the village of Mareuil sur Ay. Bottled June 2009 and disgorged July 2019. Drink or hold." (June 2, 2021)
98 Points - Decanter:
"A superb vintage of this renowned prestige cuvée, this is made from a base of 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay, to which is added 9% of red wine. Despite ageing on its lees for 10 years, it remains almost shockingly youthful, its vividly primary flavours of red cherry, strawberry and nectarine wrapped up in a taut, tense frame. It’s silky in texture and intricately complex on the long, elegantly harmonious finish, underlined by a saline chalkiness, and it demonstrates all the requisite completeness and character for long ageing, promising a slow and dignified evolution to come. Drinking Window 2021 - 2050." —Peter Liem (3/13/2021)
97+ Points - Vinous:
"The 2008 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon explodes from the glass with a mesmerizing array of aromas, flavors and textures. Blood orange, cinnamon, mint and dried flowers. The 2008 is incredibly young, but it is also incredibly tempting. Patience will be rewarded. In the meantime, readers might enjoy adding a few bottles of the stellar 2007 to their cellars, as the nervy, taut 2008 needs time. The 2008 is 55% Pinot Noir (from Aÿ, Verzy, Verzenay and Mareuil) and 45% Chardonnay (from Chouilly, Avize and Cramant), with 9% still wine from Mareuil. It is the first vintage that includes a portion of wines (17%) done in barrel and the first vintage in which the magnums were aged on the cork rather than on crown seal. Dosage is 7 grams per liter." (AG) (Mar 2021)
97+ Points - Robert Parker's WA:
"Disgorged with seven grams per liter dosage, the 2008 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is one of the finest wines I've tasted from Billecart in recent years. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of peach, mandarin oil, warm bread, red berries and petals, it's full-bodied, deep and vinous, with lovely mid-palate amplitude, terrific concentration and bright girdling acids. In what is quite a tightly wound vintage and from a house whose style is rather understated, this is a dramatic, fleshy wine that concludes with a long, flavorful finish." - William Kelley (Sep 23, 2021)
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- Only 17 bottles left in stock
Total Wine's Price: $259.99
Average Online: $249.00
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2008 Piper-Heidsieck "Cuvée Rare" Brut Champagne
97 Points - Wine Spectator:
"Like a stallion out of the gate, this shows an initial explosion of power, in the form of mouthwatering flavors and fine texture, before quickly settling into an elegant gait. The racy acidity is seamlessly knit, buoying the lacy mousse and flavors of cassis, toasted brioche and tangerine, with accents of candied ginger, hazelnut and fleur de sel lingering on the long, creamy finish. Drink now through 2035. 2,000 cases imported." - AN (Dec 15, 2020)
96 Points - Wine Enthusiast:
"The new release of this producer's prestige cuvée comes in its usual beautifully sculpted bottle. The Champagne, from a great vintage in the region, is just approaching maturity still showing minerality from the high amount of Chardonnay in the blend. Nutty flavors are creeping in, keeping the great texture adding complexity. Drink this very fine wine now although it will also age further." - Roger Voss (12/1/2020)
96 Points - Decanter Magazine:
"Rare Champagne boasts an illustrious past, with its first vintage having been presented to Marie Antoinette in 1785. The wine is produced in very limited quantities and is restricted to exceptional years, with only 11 vintages being declared over the past four decades of production. 70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir from selected grand cru vineyards. Simon Field MW: Gentle bead, lovely evolved notes of hazelnut, even a hint of praline, enrobed and ennobled by firm acidity and a persuasive finish. Alan Bednarski: Great, pure wine with still-fresh zesty flavours, delicate palate and sweet yeast notes, with a long flavourful finish of ripe melon." - Simon Field MW (9/2021)
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- Only 9 bottles arriving next week
BevMo's Price: $279.99
Wine.com's Price: $249.99
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