Champagne Salon is a small producer of

Champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, ...

made in the blanc de blancs style. Salon, along with Delamotte, is part of the Laurent-Perrier group since 1989.

History

Champagne Salon was founded by Eugène Aimé Salon in the early 20th century. Salon was convinced that the Chardonnay grapes from the ''Le Mesnil-sur-Oger'' vineyards could produce wine with favorable levels of finesse and elegance without the need to add Pinot noir or Pinot Meunier. Around the turn of the 20th century, Salon began producing a Chardonnay-only ''

cuvée ''Cuvée''Or Cuvee on some English-language labels. () is a French wine term that derives from ''cuve'', meaning vat or tank.J. Robinson (ed), ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'', Third Edition, p. 218, Oxford University Press 2006, winepros.com.a ...

'' that he shared privately with friends.L. Farmer '
Blanc de Blancs–Champagne's Golden Cuvée
"'' The Wine News. Accessed: Jan 22nd, 2008 The first commercial vintage of Champagne Salon was in 1921 and by 2006, the house has released only 37 vintages under the Salon label. Following Eugène Aimé Salon's death in 1943, his sister inherited the company which was eventually sold to Laurent-Perrier in 1989.S. Brook '

'' Decanter Magazine, September 15th, 2004 Since then, Salon is effectively part of the combined Salon-Delamotte house.

Vineyards and winemaking

Salon is made from 100% Chardonnay. Its grapes are harvested from various growers in the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Le Mesnil-sur-Oger in the Côte des Blancs subregion of

and from a proprietary vineyard known as Jardin de Salon. While the village-wide terms used for classification in the Champagne region don't carry the same meaning as in Burgundy,

Chablis Chablis () is a town and commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. It lies in the valley of the River Serein. Wine The village of Chablis gives its name to one of the most famous French white wines ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger is a

Grand cru Cru is a wine term used to indicate a high-quality vineyard or group of vineyards. It is a French word which is traditionally translated as "growth", as is the past participle of the verb "croître" (to grow); it literally means 'grown'. The ...

-rated vineyard area, which is the highest of three levels. Of the vineyards that produce their Champagne, Salon's own Jardin de Salon comprises only 1

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

(2.5 acres) of planted grapes. The majority of the grapes for Champagne Salon comes from the 20 contract growers with vineyards in the Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. These vines average around 25 years of age with some being as old as 40. Champagne Salon is only released under the Salon name during exceptional years, at the rate of approximately four vintages per decade. Undeclared vintages are used for Delamotte or simply sold off. According to the Salon website, their wines are fermented in stainless steel and allowed to age in the bottle for around ten years before release. Salon vintages are typically first released after 10+ years. Like many

Champagne producers The listing below comprises some of the more prominent houses of Champagne. Most of the major houses are members of the organisation ''Union de Maisons de Champagne'' (UMC),lees. In 1988, a single bottle from this vintage fetched over five times its estimated amount at a Christie's auction. In each vintage no more than 60,000 bottles are produced. One single Champagne is produced under the Salon label.

Vintages

As of January 2019, the most recent Salon that has been released is the 2007, and the following vintages of the 1921 to present day period have been released:

Richard Juhlin Richard Juhlin (born 1962) is a Swedish writer on Champagne and is a freelance journalist Education Juhlin is a physical education teacher by training, and was educated at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences in Stockholm. He worked ...

, ''Champagne Guide'', Richard Juhlin Publishing, 2008, p. 387-388,
1921, 1925, 1928, 1934, 1937, 1943, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1966, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007. Vintages of Salon awaiting future release are: 2008. The 2008 is apparently only going to be released in magnum format (150cl).

History

Vineyards and winemaking

Vintages

See also