Salon 2002

At first tasting in January 2014, and only recently disgorged after years on the lees, Salon 2002 seemed the very essence of Salon, displaying the wine’s familiar contrasts of tone, temperature and tension. Its aromas span the spectrum from delicate white spring flowers to sensual jasmine and exotic hot ginger.

These evocative flavours seem to warm and brighten on the palate: saturated with creamy orange flowers, candied citrus, fresh brioche, and laced with a tonic saline minerality, the mouth is a sensational riot. But it is perhaps in texture and weight, that this Salon proves most captivating and enigmatic: gossamer-fine, the wine’s tiny bubbles seem to skim weightlessly across the palate, that has no apparent edge or end. Simultaneously deep, rich and ethereal, Salon 2002 walks the high wire of power with customary poise.

Salon is an exceptional Champagne, arguably the rarest of all. Located in the celebrated grand cru village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger in the Côte des Blancs, Salon is made in tiny quantities (5,000 cases per vintage) and only when conditions are absolutely right, a rare occurrence given Champagne’s marginal climate.

2002 is the thirty-eighth and first vintage of the 21st century. 38 vintages, all different, all sublime, all unique, like this exceptional Salon Champagne, for which the word "one” is of prime importance: originally the Champagne of one man, Aimé Salon, cultivated on one stretch of land, the Côte des Blancs, from one vineyard, Mesnilsur-Oger, from one type of grape, Chardonnay and one year.

Light yellow.  Spicy lemon and lime aromas are complicated by ginger and talc, with a suave floral quality gaining strength in the glass.  Fresh and energetic, offering racy pure citrus and pear flavors that are strikingly pure and mineral-drive.

The wine offers up an excellent nose of apple, pear, incipient notes of pastry cream, chalky soil tones, biscuits and a lovely topnote of spring flowers. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite youthful, with a lovely core, elegant mousse, crisp, beautifully integrated acids and excellent length and grip on the poised and still fairly primary finish.”

In 2014 Had a pleasure to host the launching program of 2002 vintage in Maldives,

The wine is very young with perfect noted of fresh fruits and sharp edges of bubbles, it has great potential to age for a decade,

A great Blanc de Blancs with a bright yellow colour and very pleasant mousseux. The nose is excellent with an aroma reminiscent of elder blossoms, lemon zest, ripe pear and hints of apricots, brioche and discreet hints of vanilla. On the palate wonderful freshness, creamy texture, excellent mousseux with great finesse. In the long lingering aftertaste hints of lemon peel, discreet citrus fruit, yellow stone fruit and fine minerality. A great wine with excellent length and impressing character. 97/100