Champagne Salon | Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
Arguably the rarest of all fine Champagnes, made in minuscule quantities a few times a decade, Salon is the legacy of one man: Eugène-Aimé Salon, a Champagne fanatic who devoted his life to creating the quintessential champagne we now know as Salon. Focusing on Chardonnay – in his view the sole grape capable of yielding Champagnes of requisite focus and mineral finesse – Eugène-Aimé Salon scoured the Champagne region for suitable sites, planting his vineyard – the now famous Jardin de Salon – on the deep chalk soils of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, still one of Champagne’s only grand cru villages.
One wine, one vineyard, one grape: the apparent simplicity of this formula belies the challenges inherent in creating a wine of Salon’s complexity. It is testament to Eugène Aimé’s perfectionist vision, that the conditions and traditions he prescribed continue to be upheld in the production of this legendary Champagne, made on average only three times per decade.