Salon Brut "Le Mesnil" Blanc De Blanc 1996

Originally conceived as a private label for personal consumption by its founder, Eugène-Aimé Salon, this Champagne house was revolutionary in its concept: produced from a single grape variety, a single village and a single vintage at a time when the region's wines were typically blends in every sense, Salon was a contradiction. Today, Champagne has changed; single-vineyard bottlings proliferate, and they're often vinfied in wood and bottled with minimal dosage. It's a sign of the times that Salon sometimes seems almost conservative by comparison; but it remains one of the region's most coveted wines and a reference point for the Côte de Blancs. This bottle of the 1996 Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil Brut was drinking superbly and represents the apotheosis of Blanc de Blancs, unfurling over the course of three hours with a stunningly complex bouquet of citrus oil, confit lemon, dried white flowers and oyster shell, with hints of praline and pastry cream becoming more pronounced as the wine opens up in the glass. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, defined by the incisive spine so typical of the vintage that, here, is cloaked in layers of crisp fleshy and chalky extract. The finish is long, penetrating and saline. Unfortunately, since the 1996 Salon has been traded so zealously over the last decade, finding a bottle that hasn't travelled too far can be a challenge. But from a perfectly stored bottle, this is just the beginning. William Kelley The Wine Advocate 99 Points August 2019