Tasting Notes
Antonio Galloni 100
Given its tiny production of around 8,000 magnums, the 2008 Salon is not a Champagne most of us will often taste, if at all. On this night, it was once again glorious, with all the classic Salon signatures dialed up to the maximum. It was the perfect palate cleanser.
Anticipated maturity: 2025-2058
Wine Advocate 100
Disgorged in January 2019 with six grams per liter dosage, Salon’s 2008 Brut Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil is a striking wine, unwinding in the glass with scents of citrus oil, fresh bread, crisp green apple, white flowers, smoke and oyster shell. Full-bodied, layered and incisive, it’s deep and concentrated, with a tightly coiled core of fruit that’s underpinned by a racy spine of acidity. Seamless and unerringly precise, it concludes with a long and penetratingly mineral finish. Immense though its potential for aging is, its intensity and balance make it pleasurable as well as persuasive, even today. Given the eye-watering price of this magnum-only release, I was determined to hold the wine to the highest possible standards, but it surpasses even the prodigious 1996 and surely ranks as the finest Salon since at least the 1970s. In short, this is a Blanc de Blancs that admits no argument.
Anticipated maturity: 2021-2055
