1996 Salon Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs

Champagne Salon is a small and legendary producer of vintage Champagne. Champagne Salon has always been highly collectible. For decades at the height of Paris’ prestige as the cultural capital of Europe and most of the rest of the world, Salon was the house Champagne at Maxim’s, the famous restaurant and bar. Grapes for the Grand Cru Champagne, which is always 100% chardonnay, come from the commune of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger in the Champagne region of France. Champagne Salon is only produced in years considered outstanding enough for a vintage Champagne, which in practice means that the domain produces about four vintages per decade, making the Champagne exceedingly hard to acquire. The domaine was founded in the early 20th century by Eugene Aime Salon, whose goal was to produce a Chardonnay-only Champagne using grapes from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger vineyards. The first commercial vintage was in 1921. Today Champagne Salon is owned by Laurent-Perrier, which has continued the practice of producing the Champagne only in exceptional years. Since its founding, there have been fewer than 40 vintages produced.

Champagne is a small, beautiful wine growing region northeast of Paris whose famous name is misused a million times a day. As wine enthusiasts and all French people are well aware, only sparkling wines produced in Champagne from grapes grown in Champagne can be called Champagne. Sparkling wines produced anywhere else, including in other parts of France, must be called something besides Champagne. Champagne producers are justifiably protective of their wines and the prestige associated with true Champagne. Though the region was growing grapes and making wines in ancient times, it began specializing in sparkling wine in the 17th century, when a Benedictine monk named Dom Pierre Pérignon formulated a set guidelines to improve the quality of the local sparkling wines. Despite legends to the contrary, Dom Pérignon did not “invent” sparkling wine, but his rules about aggressive pruning, small yields and multiple pressings of the grapes were widely adopted, and by the 18th and 19th centuries Champagne had become the wine of choice in fashionable courts and palaces throughout Europe. Today there are 75,000 acres of vineyards in Champagne growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Champagne’s official appellation system classifies villages as Grand Cru or Premier Cru, though there are also many excellent Champagnes that simply carry the regional appellation. Along with well-known international Champagne houses there are numerous so-called “producer Champagnes,” meaning wines made by families who, usually for several or more generations, have worked their own vineyards and produced Champagne only from their own grapes.