Champagne Salon is one of the most secret but also one of the most prestigious champagne house. With a first vintage known in 1905, it is the creation of one passionate, exacting and in love with a soil, Champagne.
Today, the firm revealed us his last vintage 2012, a divine, fresh and solar nectar that Icon-Icon had the chance/opportunity to taste!
Salon Champagne, unique champagne
Real legend, salon champagne is first of all unique.
Close to aromatic perfection, it is the creation of a single man, Aimé Salon, of a single soilcru, the Côte des Blancs, of a single vineyard, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, of a single grape variety, Chardonnay, and of a single year since only vintages are produced, without any blending.
nd this so particular champagne we almost never had a taste of it! Originally, it is a man, Aimé Simon, a champagne passionate/lover, who, tired of wines that are not to his taste, dreams of the most beautiful champagne, the most singular, to his image. So, at the beginning of the XXth century, this aesthete businessman settled in/moved in the Côte des Blancs, in Mesnil-sur-Oger – on his best plots/parcels of land at the top of the church – in order to produce for his own personal consumption an exceptional champagne, without any blending, a pure Blanc de Blancs.
©Leif Carlsson
While he entertained his friends with it , they encouraged him to spread his champagne more widely in order to benefit a clientele of loyal wine lovers. The Maison Salon was born in 1920.
And nowadays, If some lucky people have been able to taste this grape variety, it remains a rare and exceptional wine, since only the greatest vintages are marketed and production is limited. We count nowadays productions around 60 000 bottles maximum per vintage.
How can we define a salon champagne ? it is first a history, the one with the taste of the Roaring Twenties, but also a texture, a wine with fine but persistent bubbles but above all with brioche, truffle, citrus aromas, creamy, strong and unique. It is a wine of character!
And this character is due to a savoir-faire, to practices put in place since the creation of the House whose philosophy is quality and taste.
Produced on exceptional quality lands, the grapes come from the one hectare parcel “le Jardin de Salon” and from 19 other small parcel of Mesnil-sur-Oger selected at the beginning of the 20th century – a very precise soil. Kept in the cellar for an average of 10 years, the wines reveal a rare complexity and finesse, an acidity essential to the good aging of the vintages, allowing freshness and vibrance.
An handmade precise work where each bottle is turned over every day by the wine merchant of the firm allows to give birth to “one of the truest, the deepest, the most racy champagnes that it is given to drink”. If 95 % of the production is for export, Salon champagne is spread in around fifty countries where it is well-known as one of the greatest wine, thus contributing to the international reputation of French champagne and our savoir-faire in this field. It is now the “Icon of Champagne” !
Salon 2012, smile Salon
this year, Salon reveals its brand new vintage, the 2012! And, as the firm define it, the Salon 2012 is a real smile that delights us. Light, fresh with subtle and delicate bubbles but which keep strong and spiky , Salon 2012 is mineral, pure and generous.
Yet, the year 2012 was not the most propitious… cold snaps, a lot of water,heatwave, the grape sees all the colors. In spite of this, the miracle takes place. In the vats, everything is revealed: sugars, a beautiful acidity, a crazy potential.
Visually, Salon 2012 is light, letting the light show its subtle green ray evoking its youth, On the nose, it is mineral and fruity, thanks to the chalky soil characteristic of its terroir; on the palate, everything is revealed, long and generous, we are first surprised by its freshness, then aerated, notes of pineapple and lychees appear.
So young and already with a potential that leaves one dreaming, the 2012 vintage promises to be a great wine that will mark the history of the House!
Generous and universal, a wine that calls for a food and wine pairing
Pure and mineral, Salon 2012 invites a gastronomic marriage around seafood, marine elements to recall its chalky soil And it is around a delicious country lunch at the Domaine du Mesnil-sur-Oger that Icon-Icon was able to discover the secrets of Champagne Salon and its little sister,Maison Delamotte.
It is around one of the five oldest Champagne houses that this meal opened. First brut then blanc de blancs, it is with the classics of the Maison Delamotte – round, supple, balanced – that the amuse bouche awakens the taste buds.
Then it was the the blanc de blancs 2014 from this fine house that came to officially open this meal around a Turbot terrine. Noble and full of character, it remains round and reveals all its complexity, complementing these flavors from the sea.
Back to the 2012 with a farm poultry – with Champagne sauce of course! to reveal the star of this meal. A divine pairing that brings an exquisite freshness to this warm, tender and comforting dish as the first rays of the summer season set in.
For the cheese, a rare wine, 1997 vintage is served Surprisingly, this blend increases tenfold the aromas of a 25 year old wine with a warmer color, solar, exceptional; the bubbles are still present, and in the mouth … exquisite, we savor it, smell it, admire it …
And to end this meal, notes of red fruits accompany a Delamotte Rosé with a generous, pale pink color, leaving us dreaming in front of its notes of strawberries or raspberries, almost smoked. At the time of the dessert, what a pleasure!
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