2002 Salon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut- France, Champagne (12/26/2020)
This is a perfect wine in a perfect place! It has perfect balance between flinty nutty mineral, creamy plush mousse, rich and tasty mouthfeel, zingy, tart apple and orchard fruit, an ever so slight hint of something red, like a strawberry breeze. This wine is in that place where it is shedding youth, whilst still maintaining youthful qualities, and moving into middle age, but still staying vibrant and young, and adding complexity. I absolutely love it. (98 pts.)
True confession: the only Salon that I’ve ever had was the 96 upon release. I was relatively new to Champagne but I remember thinking that it was incredibly austere and offered little pleasure. It’s reputation was lost on me and the idea of potential was not something that I could evaluate at the time. So my question is if in fact Salon is superior to say Pierre Peters Chetillions, can someone explain to me how that is?
I had it once at the Hotel de Crillon ages ago. I believe it was the ‘82. At the time, the dollar was very strong and it was only a slight extravagance as compared to today.
Had one in magnum earlier this year and enjoyed it; but was surprised at how ready it was to drink. My knee-jerk reaction was concern that it might lack aging potential (not helped by the fact that the few examples i’ve had older than '96 i thought did not show particularly well). curious what others might think.
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