2015 Salon le Mesnil
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Tasting notes
Pouring a bright silver/yellow color, the 2015 Champagne Salon Brut is a bit shy on the nose at first but offers richness on the palate, with peppery spice and crystalline, satiny earth, white peach, quince, and a stone-fruit fleshiness to the texture, characteristic of a sunny vintage. Harvested in the first days of September, it’s medium-bodied and has a broader texture throughout the palate, maintaining the delicacy and finesse of the house. It has a muscular profile but remains tailored, with some phenolic touches and a fresh richness in texture and structure. It has a pinpoint mousse and a touch of frothiness on the finish, ending with a structured and dry finish. When revisited in the glass, it becomes more smoky, and it gains in intensity as it opens. While it currently shows restraint, it should only improve with several years in the bottle. Drink 2027-2060. Located in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Salon is dedicated to a single bottling of Chardonnay that is produced only in exceptional vintages. Eugene-Aimé Salon made the first vintage in 1905, but it wasn’t declared a brand until 1921. It is crafted from a one-hectare plot behind the house, the Salon garden, and an additional 19 small plots across Le Mesnil-sur-Oger totaling ten hectares. Fermentation and aging occur in stainless steel tanks, with malolactic fermentation completely halted. The wines are rested for an average of ten years before release. Since 1989, Salon and Delamotte have been part of the Laurent-Perrier group.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
No water stress and not the green note that's found in some other 2015 champagnes. Picked 8 September. 2013 was the last October harvest. The much more tightly wound 2014 will be launched after the 2015. Disgorged in late 2024. Dosage 6 g/l. Deep gold. Tiny bead. Rich crème pâtissière nose. My sample is – just – not too warm (Rebecca Palmer of Corney & Barrow, poor thing, turned up with two bottles from the hot tube) – and was perfect for tasting rather than drinking. Quite open and ripe. Coppery richness. You can taste the warm season after a mild, humid winter. Much more accessible than most just-released Salons; atypical. Hint of lemon syrup. Long. (JR)
The 2015 Salon is exquisite. Bright and focused, the 2015 captures a gorgeous stylsitic middle ground between the riper and cooler years. The flavor profile leans towards the more citrus, floral and mineral-driven end of the spectrum typical of cooler years, and yet the wine is also wonderfully open-knit and accessible, with no hard edges and the textural balance that is more common in warmer years. It's a duality that works extremely well. There is a savory undertone typical of the year, but it is a strand in the fabric rather than a dominant characteristic. I left a bottle open for more than a week, during which I observed virtually no oxidation. The 2015 might not be as overtly impressive as some recent years, rather it is a Champagne of cool sophistication and total polish. Unusually, the 2015 is being released ahead of the 2014.
About the producer
Champagne Salon makes some of the region’s rarest and most collectable Champagnes. The house is dedicated to one wine – a vintage Blanc de Blancs, 100% Chardonnay entirely from the Grand Cru village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, produced only in the finest years.