Salon, an exceptional Champagne cuvée

Laurent Vuillaume | 4/19/22, 10:00 AM

A single cru, a single year, a single grape variety, a single cuvée: this is the philosophy behind Salon champagne, known only to the most enlightened and affluent connoisseurs. A look back at an exceptional wine.

At the very beginning of the 20th century, Aimé Salon, a native of Champagne who had made his fortune in the Paris fur industry, decided to produce his own champagne. For his own consumption, sometimes reserving a few bottles for his customers. In his quest for excellence, Aimé Salon decided to produce a champagne wine, a unique vintage cuvée, from the single village of Mesnil-sur-Oger, limited to the best years. At the insistence of his friends, he finally created his own Champagne Salon house in 1920, just to sell a few bottles. Since then, only 44 vintages have been produced in 102 years. Today, Salon is part of the Laurent-Perrier group, which leaves it completely independent. Didier Depond presides over the destiny of the house, and Michel Fauconnet, Laurent-Perrier's cellar master, oversees the making of the wines. Choices are made in concert, particularly when it comes to selecting a particular year. They have thus decided to release 2008, with its exceptional potential, only in magnum, and have ruled out 2009, 2010 and 2011.

A great champagne wine

Champagne Salon is a wine totally apart from the rest of Champagne. The Mesnil-sur-Oger grapes, once vinified, are bottled without blending, and cellared for an average of ten years. Made from the village's only Chardonnay grape, Salon explores all the elegance and bottleability of great whites. Indeed, Mesnil-sur-Oger wines are often taut and lively in their youth, but take on an almost unrivalled complexity in bottle. The mineral finish, with iodine and marine notes, is a strong marker of this exceptional terroir. In a way, Salon represents the quintessence of this terroir. Naturally, exceptional wines require exceptional demands. Such is the demand that the company, which produces only a few tens of thousands of bottles (and not every year), has to juggle to meet it. The result, you guessed it, is speculation and a spectacular rise in prices, especially in recent years. To taste it, it's sometimes best to approach certain restaurateurs who "play the game" and offer you affordable bottles. All that remains is to find the dish that will bring out the best in it...

To the tasting

Salon 2012

Released at the end of 2021, this 2012 edition has spent almost ten years on its lees. Served chilled and waited 20 minutes in the glass to rise to around 14°, Salon is royal. The cordon of bubbles is intact and the color a real invitation. On the nose, although still very young, this 2012 offers slightly exotic notes and that characteristic oceanic character. The overall impression is one of rare purity. The palate matches it, very straight, very pure, but above all racy. A salon of finesse and elegance.

Salon 1996

Right from the opening, this is mature champagne: the color is sumptuous and still very young. The nose is that of great white wines, with notes of mushroom and damp chalk. Then come dried fruit, gentian and candied grapes. Unfathomably complex. The palate is divine, with race, vibrancy, mineral tension and extraordinary length. The wine evolves with every second, and then offers superb truffle flavors. A Salon in its prime.

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