Champagne Salon vertical: 1982 – 2008

Salon is a mythic wine, coveted by collectors around the world. Production is small considering its renown, and since its inception in 1905, the house has produced only one Champagne, a vintage wine crafted only in the greatest years.

There will have been just 43 releases when the 2012 is launched this November.

Scroll down to see scores and tasting notes for nine back vintages of Salon Cuvée S

The early days

The first four vintages were not commercialised, but kept for the exclusive use of the founder, Eugène-Aimé Salon.

Salon was a native of nearby Pocancy who left Champagne to pursue his fortune but returned home to pursue a unique vision of the perfect Champagne. He used only Chardonnay, and exclusively from the village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger to produce the first Blanc de Blancs of note from a single village.

Initially, Salon purchased grapes from several growers in the village, and in 1911 he purchased a small plot of vines (0.77 hectares) in the heart of the village. This parcel is referred to as ‘Le Jardin de Salon’, although it is located in the more prosaically named lieu-dit ‘Le Village’. Many villages in France have a lieu-dit with this name. Most often it is purely descriptive in nature – little bits of vines in and around the buildings of the village itself.

In Le Mesnil there are several parcels of vines grouped under this name, including Krug’s Clos du Mesnil. Originally the grapes from these vines were also used in Salon, but the vineyard was sold to Krug in 1971. All of these parcels share a gentle slope and an east-southeast exposition that make them ideal locations for ripening Chardonnay to perfection.

The style of Le Mesnil

Le Mesnil is a very particular village that imbues the wine with a strongly marked character that often comes through as citrus and green apple fruit with a firm, chalky minerality and a saline note. The acidity is normally high, and the wines are typically powerful and concentrated.

There are variations within the village that relate to the slope and exposure of the vines, but there is also a cohesive ‘Mesnil’ character. Salon had the foresight to recognise the greatness of Le Mesnil, since the village was not elevated to grand cru status until 1985.

It was very rare at the time to produce wine exclusively from Chardonnay, which was thought to lack sufficient structure for long ageing and to suffer from an excess of acidity.

Salon recognised that this lively acidity was an asset, not a defect, and understood that long ageing was the key to unlocking the potential of the grapes from Le Mesnil. Base wines at Salon do not even undergo malolactic conversion, a winemaking step that would soften the acidity.

Salon passed away in 1943, and the house stayed in the family for 20 years but was eventually sold to Besserat de Bellefon, which was subsequently acquired by Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard sold Salon to Laurent-Perrier in 1988. It was under the aegis of Laurent-Perrier that the style of Salon was modernised, and they began to do the fermentation of the base wines in stainless steel and not in cask.

See all Decanter’s Champagne Salon scores and tasting notes

Late bloomer

As one might expect, a blanc de blancs produced with grapes from Le Mesnil fermented in stainless without malolactic conversion can be reticent on release. Salon normally ages for a decade on the lees before it is disgorged. It is often only at 20 years from the vintage that Salon begins to open up, and after 30 that it expresses its full potential.

In its youth, Salon shows a crystalline purity, with green fruit, chalky minerality, and a hint of autolysis. Fully mature vintages, however, can open to show a profusion of tropical fruit and floral aromas and a profoundly smoky autolysis that can recall ground coffee. Normally this requires decades of ageing, but an early advance preview recently of the upcoming 2012 vintage suggests that this vintage will be different.

Disgorged in April of 2021, the 2012 Salon has a dosage of 6 g/L, and will be launched in November 2021. The wine is surprisingly approachable this early in its life, and this may end up being something once unthinkable, an ‘early-drinking Salon’.

Look out for a First Taste of Salon 2012 nearer to the November release date.

Champagne Salon vertical: nine vintages of Salon Cuvée S, Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs

Wines are shown by vintage, in ascending order

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