Mild temperatures and extreme cold alternated throughout both winter and spring. A hot and dry summer led to a harvest that commenced on 22 September. Citrussy fruit, including pomelo and lemon, as well as spices and floral scents, suffuse the nose. Rich and dense mouthfeel on the attack giving way to a precise, crystalline texture. Purity, elegance and freshness characterise this magnificent Champagne now at full maturity.

The 1997 Brut Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil possesses striking detail and depth in a surprisingly generous style for this wine. An inner core of perfumed varietal fruit emerges from the glass, along with expressive aromas of smoke, minerals, mint, flowers and licorice, all of which are woven together with extraordinary elegance. The finish is long, sweet and sublime. Everything about this wine speaks to elegance, but in 1997 Salon is also a pleasure to drink young, unlike the 1996 which remains painfully backward. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2027. Salon is one of Champagne’s icons, and with good reason, as it is one of the most ageworthy, complex wines made in the region. At its best, Salon is capable of aging gracefully for decades, in fact, some vintages need a good 20 years before they begin to drink well! Salon is 100% Chardonnay from grand cru vineyards in Mesnil. The wine does not undergo malolactic fermentation, which adds to the already focused, intensely mineral-driven character that the Mesnil soil gives on its own. Salon is a wine for the patient, but its pedigree always comes through with time. Importer: Wilson Daniels Ltd, St. Helena, CA; tel. (707) 963-9661

A wine that just seems to go from strength to strength is Salon's 1997 Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil Brut. The Maison kept back large stocks that they have gradually been disgorging over the last half-dozen years—it's still a commercial release and well worth seeking out. From a bottle disgorged in 2020, the wine wafts from the glass with scents of honeycomb, white flowers and orange rind, complemented by hints of burnt marmalade and exotic fruit. Medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, it's notably taut and chiseled for the vintage, with racy acids and a beautifully expressive mid-palate. This is really beginning to drink with real grace, and if it doesn't hit quite the same heights as the best bottles of 1996 Salon, I have found the 1997 notably more consistent. I suppose it was picked a touch early, given the botrytis pressure in 1997, but time is being very kind to this wine.

Disgorged earlier this year (2018), the Salon 1997 Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil Brut opens with a deep, intense and concentrated yet pure, fine and complex bouquet of chalk intertwined with ripe yellow-fleshed fruit, brioche and hazelnut notes. This is a bright, perfectly matured Champagne from Mesnil-sur-Oger with hints of caramel, white mushrooms, parsley root and a beautiful varnish on the nevertheless fresh nose with its characteristic chalky Mesnil expressions. The palate is full and intense, almost rich in the first moment compared the the 2007, but then the 1997 proceeds as pure, elegant and fresh as a Salon should be. Yes, there are some similarities to the 2007 in terms of finesse, with the linear, mineral and vinous style fortified by the complexity of 21 years of age. This is a really fine Champagne but not as ripe as the 2007. The rigid taster will find some drying green apple phenolics in the aftertaste, but the hedonist (who doesn't look at the price) won't get that. So enjoy! Tasted from lot L93 SO 19218 MR in November 2018.

Walnut oil and smoky suggestions of struck flint in the nose of Salon’s 1997 Brut Le Mesnil are joined by intimation of the fresh lime and grapefruit that go on to inform its silken yet vivacious and refreshing palate with metaphorically cooling and sorbet-like refreshment. There is a vivid, hauntingly long, wave-like and buoying exchange of chalk and oyster shell, kelp and iodine with luscious citrus against a backdrop of creamy richness. This superb Salon – slightly more restrained than its 1999 counterpart, but no less intriguing or alluring – will merit at least a decade of cellaring. Salon – totaling 40,000 to 60,000 bottles in years when it is produced (that’s expressed as 750 ml. each; though magnums are becoming a significant and increasing share) – is still informed to a significant extent by its two founding blocks of massale selection vines in the heart of Le Mesnil and adjacent to the nowadays shared Salon-Delamotte facility. But there are some 20 total parcels – totaling 30 acres – under contract expressly for Salon, most of which are farmed in-house, and each of which is vinified separately. Of course, “expressly” has to be qualified. Salon has been made in fewer than 40 vintages (the exact number is disputed) since its commercial inauguration in 1921, and nowadays the fruit from its vineyards goes into bottlings of Delamotte in years when – after due consideration leading up to (potential) assemblage – no Salon is “declared.” “C’est pas de Rocket Science, pas de secrets,” remarks director Didier Depond – whose cellarmaster here, responsible also for Delamotte (and indeed, Laurent Perrier) is Michel Fauconnet – implying that it’s normally evident at harvest whether a given vintage will merit showcasing. Salon, which never undergoes malo-lactic transformation, is that rare thing among Champagnes: one designed expressly for aging, whether in the bottle or as part of the selective late disgorgements undertaken for specific clients from their sur point reserves. (Though one need only have a substantial income or an intense desire in order to acquire the “normal” disgorgements, the latter-sort are no doubt beyond the means or influence of all but a very few wine lovers. I was lucky enough to visit on a June day when a bottle of 1988 was being disgorged for a client, and the small amount of wine evacuated into my glass so as to be replaced by dosage – a non-dose Salon, bear in mind, that doesn’t otherwise exist –demonstrated formidable depth of mineral-like and secondary nuances as well as stamina, grip, and mouthwatering salinity.) Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802

Light yellow with a slow bead. Deeply perfumed nose displays waxy orchard and pit fruit scents, along with toasty lees, woodsmoke and wet stone. Weighty pear and yellow peach flavors are given a bitter edge by fruit skin and quinine qualities, picking up salty minerals on the back end. Finishes with firm grip and powerful echoes of minerals and pear skin. This is already beginning to show complexity

See score and full tasting note at champagneclub.com.

Disgorged September 2018. Dosage 3 g/l. Didier Depond arrived just after the vintage in 1997. Very expressive with attractive and not excessive chewiness. Herbs and flowers and almost like the biodynamic wild-flower effect. Great spread of aromas and quite a tight texture. Real concentration. Easy to love. Still some chew. (JR)