Billecart-Salmon’s Cuvée Louis Salmon Blanc de Blancs 2013 is a vintage Brut Champagne built entirely on Grand Cru Chardonnay from four Côte des Blancs villages—Cramant, Chouilly, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oiry. It’s vinified 100% in stainless steel, then aged a long time on lees (the house cites 114 months), before a January 2024 disgorgement with a low 4 g/L dosage. Multiple reviewers note full malolactic fermentation, a choice intended to bring “greater harmony in a cool-profile vintage,” according to Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.

Critical reception is excellent across the board. Vinous’ Antonio Galloni delivers a standout 97-point review, calling it “a powerful, dense Champagne” that “captures all the intensity of this late-ripening year,” and adding that it is “dense and very young…built for the cellar” and “seriously impressive.” Jeb Dunnuck and Wine Advocate both rate it 96+ points, reinforcing the wine’s high standing among recent releases.

Stylistically, the 2013 walks a line between brightness and depth. James Suckling emphasizes its precision, describing it as “very pure and fresh,” with “white flowers, light hazelnuts, peaches and grapefruit…a hint of oyster shells,” finishing “sleek and chalky…linear and racy,” with “very fine bubbles and a bright acidic backbone.” Dunnuck finds more breadth, noting “preserved lemon, poppy seed cake, custard, poached apple, pineapples, and salty earth,” and praising a palate that is “long and full…quite complete,” with “verticality that drives the wine.”

Wine Advocate frames it as “the most characterful wine of the new lineup,” highlighting “lemon oil, nashi pear and almond paste…cardamom, oyster shell and freshly baked bread,” and a structure that is “elegantly muscular,” driven by “crystalline purity,” “racy acids,” and “ample chalky extract.” Dunnuck suggests a long window (2026–2047), and Galloni’s note supports that the 2013 is best approached with patience.