LeDomduVin: Champagne Salon and Salon “Cuvée S” Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs Brut 2007

Champagne Salon 

Salon “Cuvée S” Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs Brut 2007

Only produced in exceptional years, with only 44 cuvées produced in 120 years, Salon is one of the rare unicorns of Champagne.

Located at the heart of the prestigious "Côte des Blancs," the vineyard of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger possesses a unique chalky terroir with excellent hydric qualities, where the Chardonnay excels and thrives.

Established in 1911 by Eugène-Aimé Salon, with the first vintage being 1905, Salon was born from his creator's love for Champagne and his captivation for the terroir of Le Mesnil, a “Grand Cru” vineyard scattered around the village of Mesnil-Sur-Oger.

Made from 100% Chardonnay sourced from a single-hectare plot called "Le Jardin Salon" and nineteen other small plots in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, selected by Eugène-Aimé Salon at the beginning, Salon is a “Blanc de Blancs”, aged for ten years on average before release.

Before Salon’s first public release in 1920, Eugène-Aimé Salon crafted all previous vintages for his own personal pleasure. The 1905, 1909, and 1911 vintages are highly coveted by collectors while being impossible to find.

In 1963, Salon was sold to Dubonet-Cinzano, which failed to develop the brand. However, in the late 1980s, things changed for the better when Laurent-Perrier purchased Salon.

Today, Didier Depond, President, and Michel Fauconnet, Cellar Master and Production Manager of the Laurent-Perrier group, manage Salon alongside Champagne Delamotte.

Salon exports 95% of its production and commands a high price as it only amounts to about 60000 regular bottles.

In the early 2000s, my first experience with the 1990 vintage was truly eye-opening, a real epiphany for my taste buds.

Later, the 1996 vintage left me speechless. It is one of the best Champagnes I have tried, sold, and served throughout my 32-year Sommelier career.

More recently, the vintages of 2002 and 2006 were truly unique and delicious in their respective ways.

Salon “Cuvée S” Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs Brut 2007

That night, I tried the 2007 vintage for the first time, and once again, it was a revelation. Its freshness, elegance, focus, minerality, concentration, and racy sophistication were mind-blowing.

Cheers! Santé!

Dom

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LeDomduVin: Jacques Selosse V.O "Version Originale" Blanc-de-Blancs Grand Cru Champagne Extra Brut

Jacques Selosse V.O "Version Originale" Blanc-de-Blancs Grand Cru Champagne Extra Brut

I always feel very humble when opening a bottle of Jacques Selosse's “Version Originale.”

First, it is rare, as only 3600 bottles are produced annually worldwide. Second, it is such an excellent champagne that you must experience it at least once to fully understand why.

Understandably, it is very sought-after and hard to find as the allocations per buyer are small, just a few bottles, and only if you can get them. I have been fortunate to be able to source, buy, open, taste, and serve quite a few these past three years.

For those who may not know, V.O. is a cuvée "Blanc de Blancs," thus 100% Chardonnay grapes, harvested from Grand Cru vineyards planted on slopes around the villages of Avize, Cramant, and Oger.

The blend combines three consecutive vintages, made with the current vintage and blended with "reserve" wines from the previous two vintages. This blending method enables consistency in taste, highlights the original character of the wine, and reduces the impact of variable climatic conditions.

 

The resulting wine is then aged 6-7 years on lees and dosed as an "Extra Brut" (between 0 & 1.3 g/l depending on the vintage), which contributes to preserving the Champagne's natural character, freshness, and harmony and allows to reveal the intrinsic quality and minerality of the various terroirs.

For example, this bottle was disgorged in 2019, meaning the blend is made of the 2012 or 2013 vintage, blended with some 2010 and 2011 reserve wines.

Unlike Jacques Selosse's "Lieux Dits" Collection, undoubtedly the purest expressions of the 6 top vineyard sites they work with, V.O. may not reveal as perfectly and precisely the real identity of the terroirs it comes from. Yet, it still delivers charm, character, intensity, complexity, and concentration with finesse, elegance, and beautiful minerality.

Let it rest 2 or 3 years in your cellar to experience its full potential. It is recommended to serve it at 12°C. Decant it, if necessary.  

Cheers! Santé!

Dom

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Unless stated otherwise, all rights reserved ©LeDomduVin 2024, on all the contents above including, but not limited to, photos, pictures, drawings, illustrations, collages, visuals, maps, memes, posts, texts, writings, quotes, notes, tasting notes, descriptions, wine descriptions, definitions, recipes, graphs, tables, and even music and video (when and where applicable).