Editors notes
98 points - Wine Enthusiast
Clean and lively on the attack, the wine’s intense freshness and minerality deliver on its aromatic promise – an impressive nose with notes of minerals, gunflint, stones, smoked tea, just a touch of mint. Redolent of the ocean with its iodine, seaweed tang. Taut and edgy in the mouth, the wine is all purity and fine acidity. The magnificent salinity of this wine, offers a suitable foil to the ripe chardonnay fruit, emerging gently but surely, with hints of brioche, warm bread and fresh yeast characters tiptoeing in behind. The wine becomes rounder as it airs in the glass, revealing a beautiful vinosity, the curve counter-balancing its acidity to perfection.
Champagne Salon is a masterpiece of complexity, created for pleasure, pure and simple. A truly profound wine! Created in 1911 with first vintage 1905, Champagne Salon is the creation of one man, a champagne connoisseur enchanted then seduced by the terroir of Le Mesnil. This Champagne is produced from a one-hectare parcel owned by Salon: "Salon’s garden", and from 19 other smaller parcels in Mesnil-sur-Oger, chosen by Aimé Salon at the beginning of the century. The wines are cellared in the bottle for an average of 10 years, gaining in complexity and finesse.
Details
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Wine Type
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Location
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Cellaring
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Closure
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Alcohol Percentage
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Oak Type
Tasting Profile
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Light (Light)Full (Full)
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Low Tannin (Low Tannin)Tannic (Tannic)
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Sweet (Sweet)Dry (Dry)
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Low Acidity (Low Acidity)High Acidity (High Acidity)
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Aroma
- Apple
- Lemon
- Nectarine
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Palate
- Apple
- Cream
- Peach
Food Pairings
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Cheese -
Fish -
Poultry
Critic Scores & reviews
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Antonio Galloni
97+"The 2004 Salon has been superb each time I have tasted it over the last year or so. Bright, tense and crystalline, with all of the energy that is typical of both Salon and the vintage in the Côte des Blancs, the 2004 bristles with superb precision and cool, pulsating minerality. The 2004 spent a dozen years on its lees. Over the last six months or so, it has gradually begun to open up, but it is very much a wine for the cellar. Two thousand four is remembered as a vintage with record high yields. Salon (and Delamotte) did a terrific job in keeping the vines well balanced. Production was just 46,000 bottles, as opposed to the 60,000 or so that is more typical. Chef de Caves Michel Fauconnet opted for a low dosage of just 4 grams per liter. This is a tremendous showing. Rated 97+ (Tasted Jun 2016) Antonio Galloni Drinking Window 2019 - 2044"
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James Suckling
98"2004 Salon weaves together immense complexity with stunning purity and makes instant impact on the nose with fresh-baked pastry and brioche, chalky minerals, fresh white mushroom, cucumber, lemon curd and striking lemon and lime citrus fruits. The palate has an almost smoky mineral thread, toasty autolytic flavors build and expand through the mid-palate, opening to grapefruit and ripe white peach flavours, lemon sorbet and very lightly grilled hazelnuts to close. This is an impressively layered Blanc de Blancs in which bright acidity supports the flavorsome, concentrated and fleshy texture in seamless balance. A great Salon, very composed and complex in every respect, a classically styled vintage in which this legendary Champagne has excelled. It will be a fascinatingly complex Champagne with further age. Drink now and for 10+ years."
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Wine Enthusiast
98"Salon's releases are rare and signify a great vintage—the last release was the 2002. Coming from grand cru vineyards in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, this 2004 is complex and concentrated, capturing the essence of Chardonnay in Champagne. Intense minerality and ripe apple and citrus fruits accompany the purity and crisp texture that are part of its ability to age. The wine can continue for many years, certainly to 2025 and beyond. *Best of 2016, Cellar Selection* (RV)"
Other vintages
Love this wine? Here's a list of other vintages we have in stock if you'd like to try them as well.
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- Variety Chardonnay
- Vintage 2006
- Brand Champagne Salon
- Cellaring 15 Plus Years
- Wine Type Sparkling
- Alcohol Percentage 12.5% Alcohol
Salon Cuvee 'S' Blanc De Blancs 2006-
Wine Enthusiast100 points
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James Suckling97 points
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Antonio Galloni97 points
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The Wine Advoca96* points
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Jancis Robinson18* points
$990.00 -
- Variety Chardonnay
- Vintage 2002
- Brand Champagne Salon
- Cellaring 10-15 Years
- Wine Type Sparkling
- Alcohol Percentage 12.0% Alcohol
Salon 'Cuvee S' Blanc De Blancs 2002-
Roger Voss100 points
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James Suckling99 points
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Wine Spectator98 points
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Richard Hemming20 points
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Antonio Galloni97 points
$1,049.99 -
- Variety Chardonnay
- Vintage 2007
- Brand Champagne Salon
- Cellaring 15 Plus Years
- Wine Type Sparkling
- Alcohol Percentage 12.0% Alcohol
Salon Cuvee 'S' Blanc De Blancs 2007-
Wine Enthusiast99 points
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James Suckling97 points
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The Wine Advoca96 points
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Antonio Galloni96 points
$945.00 -
- Variety Chardonnay
- Vintage 1997
- Brand Champagne Salon
- Cellaring 15 Plus Years
- Wine Type Sparkling
- Alcohol Percentage 12.0% Alcohol
Salon 'Cuvee S' Blanc De Blancs 1997-
Wine Enthusiast96 points
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Antonio Galloni95 points
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David Schildkne95 points
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Jeannie Cho Lee95 points
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Jancis Robinson19 points
$1,179.00
Current auction
All current auctions for this wine & any different vintages.
Locations
France
Wine is being produced throughout France and has been done for over 2,500 years with certain Châteaux dating their history back to Roman times, around 6th Century BC. Ranking second in the world in per-capita consumption and first in total production quantity. More so than the overall quantity of wine is the quantity of truly great wines coming out of France makes the nation the envy of wine-making nations worldwide.
Two concepts pivotal to the higher end French wines, in particular, are the idea of 'terroir' and the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) system. Terroir refers to the way the geography, geology and climate find their way into the glass, telling a story of the origin of the wine. The AOC was set up in 1935 and has the primary goal of protecting the authenticity of the wines and the livelihoods of the producers. Appellation rules strictly define which varieties of grapes and winemaking practices are approved for classification in each of France's several hundred geographically defined appellations, which can cover entire regions, individual villages or in some cases, like in Burgundy even specific vineyards.
Classic wine regions in France include Champagne (home of Champagne), Burgundy (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay), Bordeaux (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot), Alsace (Aromatic varietals), Loire Valley (Chenin Blanc, Crémant) and the Rhône Valley (Syrah, Grenache Mourvedre)
The Bordeaux classification of 1855 is still in use, as is the Sauternes and Barsac Classification of the same year. Wines from certain regions can be bought En Primeur, which is when the wine is sold prior to it being bottled.
Champagne
Champagne is a wine region to the north-east of Paris where wine has been grown since the Romans first planted in the 5th century and the region is most well known for the sparkling wine that goes by the regions name.
Champagne is made from 3 grapes. The two red grapes Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier and the white grape Chardonnay. All three are commonly blended though a ‘blanc de blanc’ meaning ‘white from white’ indicates that only Chardonnay was used. Conversely a ‘blanc de noir’ or ‘white from black’ indicates that the two red grapes were used.
A common misconception is that Champagne was invented by Dom Pérignon. Although this is not the case, he made considerable contributions to the quality and production methods used in the region. The very first bottles of Champagne were created by accident, and coined ‘the devil’s wine’ for all the popping corks. Sparkling wine in Australia was referred to as Champagne but this practise has long been disallowed.
Methode Champenoise is the traditional method by which Champagne is produced and if you see Millisime on a bottle, it represents the fact that the wine comes from a particular vintage rather than being blended, which is the more common practice.
Icons such as Dom Pérignon and Kristal are world reknowned, but we find as much pleasure in the smaller Champagne houses such as Gosset and Jacquinot. Magnums are perfect for the festive occasions and half bottles are also available.
About the brand Champagne Salon
Regarded as one of the very best champagnes on the market today, Champagne Salon started out as a venture by a man named Aimé Salon who wanted to create a unique kind of champagne from one kind of grape variety (Chardonnay), in a blanc de blanc style from one vintage with no blending at all. Salon believed that if he gave enough time for the wine to develop, it would result in a phenomenal wine, and he was right. His 1911 'Grand Vin Nature du Mesnil' was the first blanc de blanc champagne to be released in 1921. The grapes used to make the champagne are from the commune Le Mesnil-sur-Oger in the Côte des Blancs subregion of Champagne, and from one hectare of Salon’s own garden. The vintages of Salon are usually kept for 10 + years before being released, and no more than 60,000 bottles are produced in each vintage. Today, the house of Salon is headed by Didier Depond, along with its sister brand, Champagne Delamotte.
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