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Salon Le Mesnil(1996)
- Winery:
- Salon
- Varietal:
- Chardonnay
- Region:
- France > Champagne
- Type:
- User Tags:
- pome, romanian cheese, sophisticated, fruit, pear, intense, mineral, licorice, orange, bitters
Pressing is carried out with a traditional press used solely for Salon. Only the cuvée, or first pressing, is used for its wine. The cuvée is the lightest, purest and ripest juice that contains the highest amount of acid. The first fermentation occurs in a stainless steel tank, where the temperature is controlled and freshness preserved. To that end, the wine does not see any oak, nor does it go through malolactic fermentation.
Aging takes place in Salon’s chalk cellars for 8–10 years. The slow marriage of acidity and fruit that takes place over time gives Salon its signature read more...elegance, finesse, balance and exceptional depth, as well as a fine, persistent mousse. Riddling is carried out manually, and because the bottle has an embossed relief (the word "Salon") at the point where the bottle begins to taper toward the neck, a special technique is required to prevent sediment collecting in the lines of the relief. The bottle starts out with the embossed relief at the 12 o'clock position. From that point, it is riddled left to right, then right to left, until the sediment is trapped at the top of the neck of the bottle. The wine is hand-disgorged only when an order is received. (hide)
Aging takes place in Salon’s chalk cellars for 8–10 years. The slow marriage of acidity and fruit that takes place over time gives Salon its signature read more...elegance, finesse, balance and exceptional depth, as well as a fine, persistent mousse. Riddling is carried out manually, and because the bottle has an embossed relief (the word "Salon") at the point where the bottle begins to taper toward the neck, a special technique is required to prevent sediment collecting in the lines of the relief. The bottle starts out with the embossed relief at the 12 o'clock position. From that point, it is riddled left to right, then right to left, until the sediment is trapped at the top of the neck of the bottle. The wine is hand-disgorged only when an order is received. (hide)
- Josh Raynolds
- International Wine Cellar
- Issue 129, November/December 2006
- 95/100
-
July 2007
- ($300) Green-tinged gold. Incredibly complex, intense bouquet of smoky, leesy orange, pear, licorice, minerals and bitter quinine. The superconcentrated citrus, quince and pear liqueur flavors convey an almost painful impression of extract and positively explode across the palate. Elegant, poised and precise in a manner rare for a wine with such flavor intensity. The vibrant, minerally, extremely long finish simply doesn't let up. This should age effortlessly for a decade or two. (Wilson-Daniels, St. Helena, CA)
