92 pts Vinous Media
Drinking Window 2025-2032
The NV Brut Le Réserve (base 2020) is the first edition of the former Brut Réserve in its new incarnation, with the greater focus that is such a central part of the Billecart approach these days. Pliant, creamy and seductive, Le Réserve is terrific. Dried pear, hazelnut, spice, orange peel and dried flowers all meld together in an effortless, gracious Champagne that is all class. Dosage is 3 grams per liter. Disgorged: First Quarter 2024. - By Antonio Galloni

91 pts Wine Advocate
Drink Date: 2025 - 2034
Based on the 2020 vintage (the youngest vintage serves as the “base” of a bottling, even if it does not represent the majority of the blend) and incorporating 71% reserve wines—half stored as individual vintages and the other half as a perpetual reserve initiated in 2006—Billecart-Salmon’s latest NV Le Réserve is showing nicely. It offers aromas of green pear, honeysuckle, brioche and white peach. Disgorged in early 2024 with a dosage of three grams per liter, this reimagined cuvée has recently undergone a significant reduction in dosage. The sweetness that so often presents itself on the finish of NV Champagnes from Grandes Marques is no more. Medium to full-bodied, lively and charming, with a textural attack and vibrant acidity, it culminates in a long, precise finish. This reinvented cuvée replaces the Brut Réserve and, beyond the lowered dosage, sees a stricter fruit selection, an additional 20 months of aging sur lattes (now totaling 50 months) and an increased proportion of the perpetual reserve.

Our Note: The Le Reserve is a totally different wine.  The dosage was decreased a good amount. The volume produced has decreased as they have stopped using parcels they feel do not add to the wine. This is an A+ move on their part while still keeping pricing reasonable.  This was the best bottling of this wine I have ever had (this was formerly the Brut Reserve), with chalk, citrus, and orchard fruit leading the way with subtle leesy and creamy notes and textures.

The Réserve is a Champagne of finesse and balance, blending fruit from 15 different vintages and drawn from some of the finest sites across the Champagne region.

• Grape variety % based on the 2020 vintage
• 28% Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims and the Grande Vallée de la Marne
• 29% Chardonnay sourced from the best Crus in the Champagne region
• 43% Meunier from the Vallée de la Marne and the southern slopes of Epernay
• Mainly low-temperature vinification in stainless steel tanks
• Over 50% reserve wines
• Partial malolactic fermentation (less than 20% normally and naturally)
• Average ageing on lees: 50 months
• Extra Brut dosage (3 g/L)