92+ points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "This was the first time I had tried a vintage-dated Extra Brut from Billecart-Salmon and I was quite impressed. The ’04 is a blend of 70% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay and came about when the house decided not to produce a 2004 Cuvée Nicolas François in this vintage, thus freeing up some juice for this bottling. The superb nose wafts from the glass in a relatively toasty blend of apple, tart peach, sourdough bread, complex, stony minerality, a touch of nuttiness and a topnote of orange peel. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very pure on the attack, with beautiful balance and focus, a very good core, crisp acids and excellent length and grip on the classy finish. What I like about this wine is it is so well-balanced that its bone-dry backend never threatens to cross the line into flat out austerity. Today, this wine’s structure has just a bit of the upper hand, which gives it the appearance of being just a touch lean in the mid-palate, but I suspect that a few years of bottle age will allow the wine to fully blossom at the core and this will be a passing phenomenon. It is certainly approachable now, but I would be inclined to give this another two or three years in the cellar to really let it come into its own. 2013-2025+. (Jan/Feb 2013)"

The World of Fine Wine: "The 2004 (70% grand cru Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay) was 20% fermented in five-year-old oak barrels. A bright, intense gold. A fresher, more lifted nose than the NV, with glacé citrus fruits and smoke. Denser and more richly silken, but with more elegance, energy, focus, and race; impressive intensity and purity of fruit; beautifully integrated, the steely core well wrapped, but a more austere grandeur than the NV on the finish, as this is still some way off its peak. (Issue #30; 2010)"