Champagne Salon

About Champagne Salon

It was originally the product of one single man, Aimé Salon; from one single region, the Côte de Blancs; from one single cru, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger; from one single grape variety, Chardonnay; and from one single vintage, with no blending whatsoever. Created in 1911 with its first vintage in 1905, Champagne Salon is the creation of Aimé Salon, a champagne connoisseur enchanted then seduced by the terroir of Le Mesnil. Headed by Salon until his death in 1943, the house was then left to his nephew. In 1988, Champagne Laurent-Perrier, a family-owned company, became the majority shareholder of Champagne Salon. Today, the house of Salon, along with its ancient neighbor and sister, Champagne Delamotte (the 5th oldest Champagne house, founded in 1760) are directed by one man, Didier Depond. At each step of the production of Salon, a conscientious effort is made to be the best, the most beautiful and the rarest, thus allowing fervent admirers of Salon to taste a perfectly balanced Champagne, with rich and complex aromas.

Eugène-Aimé Salon

Eugène-Aimé Salon was born on 7th October 1867 in Pocancy, a village at the foot of the Côte des Blancs in Champagne.

Having little interest in the family farm and even less in the career of primary school teacher also on the cards, Eugène-Aimé Salon opted to try his luck in commerce, moving to Paris. Young and enthusiastic, he managed to secure a position with the furrier Chapal in Montreuil. Initially a boy Friday, he worked hard and stepped up, assuming more and more responsibility, taking charge of the company’s development strategy, leading to its expansion and great success. As the new century dawned, he was one of the key figures of Paris’glittering society circuit.

Energetic, intelligent, running constantly on business between Paris and New York – there was no sale in New York, London or Paris in which he was not involved – he loved life and lived it to the full, adored pleasure and the finer things, and, it goes without saying given his champenois origins, the best champagne.

He also had a dream. He dreamt of a champagne of incomparable finesse, a unique wine for him alone; a champagne that would stand apart.

His ties to Champagne had remained strong through the years, and he had the perfect advisor in his brother-in-law, a cellar master. He realised he must buy some land, and set to work. He compared the respective merits of vineyards in Cramant, Avize, Oger and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, finding the grapes from Le Mesnil best suited to produce wines with the greatest ageing potential. He chose the Côte des Blancs to be his terroir, the best cru, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, and the best plots in the terroir, those located above the church, where the balance between sugar content and acidity is perfect. His vision became clear: he would make an unblended champagne for his own personal consumption.

In 1905, he created the Blanc de Blancs, as he called it, quite simply. His many friends were delighted with it and, once some years had passed since the tragic events of World War I, encouraged him to make more of it for their own enjoyment. Thus, the house of Champagne Salon was founded in 1920 for this enthusiastic clientele.

From then on, Champagne Salon was a feature in all the most popular places. Maxim’s made it the house champagne in the Roaring Twenties. Eugène-Aimé Salon was always welcome there, mingling in diverse political circles, defending his convictions about Europe and was a member of the well-known ‘Club des Cents’ (an exclusive gourmet society). Everybody wanted to drink his champagne. Salon was ground-breaking for the time, given it was a wine produced from the Chardonnay grape variety alone. No Champagne brand had marketed a single-variety wine before World War I. In this way, Eugène-Aimé Salon was the pioneer of the Blanc de Blancs style.

He enjoyed remarkable success and an extremely pleasant life. Passionate about the culinary arts (he employed two chefs at his country house in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger), he had very fixed ideas about dishes, how they should be prepared, and about the wines that should be served with them.

Since the 1928 vintage, one that earned Salon the unanimous recognition of connoisseurs, Eugène-Aimé’s uncompromising standards prevail. The wine is made in exceptional vintages only.

A native of Champagne, Eugène-Aimé Salon was also a European, and in the Thirties was politically involved in the movement for a peaceful, modern Europe, alongside Louise Weiss (his name appears in the « Premiers Européens » yearbook for 1931). Eugène-Aimé Salon was a prominent figure in Parisian life in the Roaring Twenties and had many friends, notably in political and parliamentary circles, where he was unafraid to express his highly progressive ideas.

In his lifetime and still today, long after his death in 1943, the image of Eugène-Aimé Salon remains that of a pioneer and visionary, a man of ideas, free and creative. His champagne is the legacy of this ongoing quest for beauty, a symbol of generosity and of the enduring human desire to share with others our most sublime creation.

In the Vineyard

The name Le Mesnil resonates in a special way with lovers of great wine. Nestled in the heart of the Côte des Blancs, 100% Chardonnay and 100% Grand Cru, this is the king of Champagne vineyards. It is here that the most profound expression of Chardonnay’s delicate freshness truly comes to the fore, where magnanimous nature offers a wine that is purity itself. Champagne Salon comes from a single hectare plot called ‘The Salon garden’ and nineteen other small plots in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger selected by Eugène-Aimé Salon at the beginning of the 20th century.

In the Winery

The grapes are picked and sorted by hand. Pressing is carried out at Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, with a traditional press used only for Salon. Only the first pressing, or cuvée, is used. This is the purest, freshest juice, containing the highest percentage of acidity, which is essential to the evolution and vivacity of the Champagne. This alone does not make a unique wine: only the exceptional years are kept for production, when the grapes contain the ideal combination of richness of fruit, sugar, and acidity, which happens on average every 2-3 years. The first fermentation occurs in a stainless steel tank, where the temperature can be controlled and freshness preserved. The wines are cellared in the bottle for an average of 10 years, gaining in complexity and finesse. There is, therefore, just over 12 years stock in the chalk cellars at Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.

Since 2005, the wines have been made by Michel Fauconnet, who serves as the cellar master for both houses. Since 1997, Salon has held back some wines for later disgorgement, releasing them with the 2008 vintage in a mixed case that included late releases of the 2007, 2006 and 2004 vintages.

Where in the World is Champagne Salon?

Champagne Salon is based in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Côte de Blancs, Champagne.