Champagne Salon Blanc de Blancs 2015 epitomises the house's dedication to pure Chardonnay, sourced exclusively from 20 plots in the Grand Cru vineyards of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Mesnil is famous for a slightly cooler microclimate and chalk very near the surface, so you always have tension in the wines. The 2015 growing season was characterised by a hot summer, giving ripe yellow fruit characters and eight years lees time adds to the complexity. Will be enjoyable from release. Champagne's finest and rarest Blanc de Blancs, Salon is the legacy of Eugène-Aimé Salon who devoted his life to creating the perfect pure-Chardonnay champagne setting up the Maison in 1911. Salon is always made from Chardonnay grapes grown in a one hectare plot at the back of the Maison, "The Salon Garden" and 19 other plots on the deep chalk soils of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. The apparent simplicity of this formula belies the challenges inherent in creating a wine of Salon’s complexity. Made on average only three times per decade, the 2015 vintage is the 45th Salon to be released from this tiny House in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger in it's 120-year history.
This forty-fifth vintage marks a kind of rebirth, a reminder of first principles. 2015 transports us back to 1905, when the visionary Aimé Salon created his first masterpiece – one that nobody had dared imagine: a Champagne from a single cru, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger; a single grape, Chardonnay; and a single vintage, made only in the most exceptional years. Crafted initially for the pleasure of its brilliant inventor and his close friends, Salon’s singular creation quickly captured the attention of the most discerning connoisseurs of the Roaring Twenties.
Weather in 2015: After a mild, wet autumn and an uneventful winter without any harsh frosts, a wet spring encouraged early development in the vines, budburst for Chardonnay beginning from 14th April. From mid-May and for the next 3 months, an extended spell of dry, sunny weather settled across the region. Champagne basked in the light. The Chardonnay vines began flowering energetically on 11th June. By early August, veraison was underway, and soon after, welcome showers and cooler temperatures allowed the vines to complete the ripening cycle in calm, measured fashion. By the time harvest began on 8th September, bright sunshine had returned to Le Mesnil-sur- Oger. The summer of 2015 smashed historical records for both sunshine and drought – climatic conditions that brought the grapes to perfect maturity, promising a vintage of remarkable quality.
Technical Information:
Vineyards: 100% Grand Cru | Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
Grape Varieties: 100% Chardonnay
Lees Ageing: 8 years
Disgorgement: November 2024
Dosage: 6 g/l
Drink: Now to 2050+
Tasting Note: The 2015 Salon is exquisite. Bright and focused, the 2015 captures a gorgeous stylsitic middle ground between the riper and cooler years. The flavor profile leans towards the more citrus, floral and mineral-driven end of the spectrum typical of cooler years, and yet the wine is also wonderfully open-knit and accessible, with no hard edges and the textural balance that is more common in warmer years. It's a duality that works extremely well. There is a savory undertone typical of the year, but it is a strand in the fabric rather than a dominant characteristic. I left a bottle open for more than a week, during which I observed virtually no oxidation. The 2015 might not be as overtly impressive as some recent years, rather it is a Champagne of cool sophistication and total polish. - Tasted by Antonio Galloni
Champagne Salon Brand Overview & Buy Champagnes Same Day Delivery
Salon is one of the most intriguing and mysterious names in Champagne. It is also a most unusual wine: there is only one cuvée, it is produced only in exceptional years (there were only 37 releases in the entirety of the 20th century), it is made only from Chardonnay and it is sourced only from vineyards of the famous Grand Cru, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. It is a rare and luxurious champagne, and new releases are always keenly anticipated with an average of only 60,000 bottles produced each vintage.
Early in the 20th century, Eugène-Aimé Salon, a wealthy businessman working in the fur trade in Paris, returned to his family’s roots in Champagne. His vision was to make a champagne like no other and purely from Chardonnay grapes grown in Le Mesnil. Arguably, this was the first ever ‘Blanc de Blancs’ champagne. Imagining a wine purely for his own pleasure, it began life as a hobby and he only made tiny quantities to consume with friends and family. After testing the waters with the 1905 vintage, Salon went full steam ahead in 1911, when Eugène bought a one-hectare vineyard in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and officially created the Champagne house. He built a large mansion to throw lavish parties, but in fact the house was barely used, as Eugène’s focus remained firmly on his profitable fur business and his political career in Paris.
For his ‘hobby’ Eugène had been advised by his brother-in-law, a local winemaker, that the grapes from Le Mesnil were very high in acidity which resulted in powerful, very linear wines with great ageability. The grapes in Le Mesnil were Chardonnay, which at the time were considered less important than Pinot Noir in the production of Champagne. The common belief was that Chardonnay alone did not have enough body and structure to make well-balanced and high-quality champagnes. But, believing the wines could open up and impress if given enough time to develop, Eugène decided to let them age for a minimum of 10 years. His 1911 ‘Grand Vin Nature du Mesnil’ thus became the very first Blanc de Blancs champagne.
The house was headed by Eugène Aimé Salon until his death in 1943, when it passed to his sister Annie and nephew Marcel-Guillaume, who cared little for the wine business. They struggled along for the next 20 years and left the Chef de Cave to do his own thing. In 1963, the family sold the company to Dubonet-Cinzano, who showed little interest in developing the Champagne brand.
Things changed for the better in 1988, when Laurent-Perrier purchased Salon. Today, Salon exports 95% of its production. It was not imported into the United States until 1983. Remarking on the high price tag, the New York Times wrote: “Salon is likely to remain mostly invisible to the public; its appeal would seem to lie with those who fancy stratosphere-level wines.”
Didier Depond was appointed President of Salon in 1997 and remains director today.
