Salon: a singular cuvée

Throughout its long history, Salon has followed its own path of quality and rarity, according to iDealwine.

EUGÈNE-AIMÉ Salon, creator of the world-famous “S” cuvée, was a Côte des Blancs visionary who was able to impart to his products all the intangible characteristics that help make fine wine successful at auction. Today, the Champagne house bearing his name continues to produce critically acclaimed, low-production, single-vintage Champagne in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.

When Eugène-Aimé established Salon in 1910, he was one of the few producers in the region to see merit in single varietal, Chardonnay-based Champagnes. His passion for the Côte des Blancs region where he was raised, coupled with his fierce pursuit of outstanding blanc de blancs Champagne, played a major role in establishing the region’s modern-day renown as a reference point for highquality Chardonnay production. Today, the Côte des Blancs serves as the primary source of Chardonnay grapes for several prestige cuvées.

Throughout its history, Salon has been intensely focused on the idea of singularity. Its wines are single varietal (Chardonnay), single vintage, single terroir (Côte des Blancs), and single cru (Le Mesnil-sur-Oger). All of these aspects work together in unison to create one single cuvée, “S”. The grapes used for the “S” cuvée are harvested from 20 plots in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, one of which is the producer ’s own vineyard, Le Jardin du Salon (The Salon Garden). Outside Le Jardin du Salon, the other 19 plots were all carefully selected by Eugène-Aimé himself before his death in 1943.

By the time of Salon’s first vintage, Eugène-Aimé had spent most of his adult life as a businessman in Paris. However, having been born at the foot of the Côte des Blancs in Pocancy, his roots never fully left him. A lifelong fan of Champagne, Eugène-Aimé began to dream of making the perfect cuvée for himself alone. Thus the first bottles of Salon, which were produced in 1905, were not sold commercially.

As fate would have it, the first vintage to be put on the market would become almost as legendary as the cuvée itself. The 1921 growing season included catastrophic black frost in mid-April, followed by unseasonably warm temperatures that reached nearly 30o C. This unique combination of poor weather conditions led to nearly 80% of the crop being lost that year. Nevertheless, the vines that remained viable eventually garnered an exceptionally qualitative yield. Thus, from its very first commercial vintage, Salon Champagne has been shrouded in rarity, mystique, and (against all odds) exceptional quality.

Salon will only produce wines under its own name in the most exceptional vintages, therefore guaranteeing both the outstanding quality and unique rarity of each bottle. Since Salon was purchased by Laurent-Perrier in 1988, the grapes produced in vintages that are not destined for the “S” cuvée are typically used by another of the company’s labels, Delamotte. On average, the house produces four wines per decade under its own name, meaning that a mere 44 vintages have been made in the entire history of the brand. Each vintage is aged on the lees for an average of 10 years, meaning that fans of the “S” cuvée must be incredibly patient before every release.

The two most recent vintages of the “S” cuvée were 2013 and 2012, both of which typically sell for around €1,100 per bottle in iDealwine auctions. At the top end, the 2012 vintage fetched an impressive €1,440 in a March 2023 iDealwine auction. Both vintages were unique in that harsh weather conditions gave way to a nevertheless extraordinary wine, more than worthy of bearing the “S” on its label. Each of the two years endured particularly cold winters, followed by rainy Aprils and hot summers. However, the 2013 vintage experienced a strong end to the growing season, marked by a slow road to maturity, leaving the resultant wine with good alcohol content and excellent acidity.

FIND THE UNFINDABLE

Highlighting its commitment to help wine enthusiasts “find the unfindable”, in 2022, iDealwine sold 112 bottles of Salon for a total value of €179,253. The average selling price was €1,600 per bottle, higher than any other producer in iDealwine’s list of top 20 Champagne producers of 2022 by auction value. On a per bottle basis, the second-and third-placed Champagne houses sold for an average price less than half that of Salon (Jacques Selosse and Krug: both €764.

So far, 2023 has been another exciting year for Salon fans on iDealwine, where bidders have found more than 60 bottles to date, including a 1965 vintage, which sold for €2,504 in October, and several bottles of the 1985 vintage, which sold for an average of €1,538 per bottle throughout the year.

When it comes to prestige Champagne, Salon has clearly pushed the boundaries of what consumers are willing to pay in order to come into contact with excellence. Backed by a rich history, carefully selected releases and a full commitment to its original values, the house that Eugène-Aimé built more than 120 years ago still stands as an example the very best on the Côte des Blancs. Thankfully, even with a limited release schedule and relatively low production volumes, wine enthusiasts around the world can consistently rely on iDealwine when looking to add this outstanding cuvée to their cellars.

auction update – in association with iDealwine