2006 salon, le mesnil-sur-oger grand cru
Marketplace price
Bottle size (ML)
Loading...
Why We're Buying
Many Champagne houses add pinot noir or pinot meunier to round of the flavor of their cuvée. Champagne Salon begs to differ. It produces Le Mesnil-sur-Oger entirely from chardonnay, with 2021 representing the 100th anniversary of the cuvées debut. During that time, the estate has only released 37 vintages, never producing more than 60,000 bottles in a single year. Few estates have higher standards than Salon. As a result, few estates command higher prices. This legendary Champagne stands out as the gold standard for bubbly, with critics comparing it to a white Burgundy with bubbles. The 2012 Salon vintage almost didn’t exist. In 2014, Salon's president Didier Depond had reportedly said there were no great vintages since 2008. Time has a way of changing people’s minds, though. The evolution of the 2012 vintage was undeniable, yielding a sweeping and structured Champagne with a tightly knit core of stone fruit, acids, oyster shells, brioche, and creamy mousse. Critics have uniformly praised 2012 Salon since its release. The Wine Advocate’s William Kelley called it “after the 2008, the finest Salon produced this millennium.” Meanwhile, wine critic James Suckling gave the vintage a 98-point rating, praising it as “layered and refined with wonderful complexity.”
Critics Scores
Burghound.com
A restrained, cool and pure nose speaks of citrus, green apple, petrol, yeast and an interesting hint of quinine. The equally restrained, intense and wonderfully pure flavors are classic Salon with their slight edge of youthful austerity coupled with first-rate flavor authority and punch, all wrapped in a lemon rind-inflected and drier than usual finish that goes on and on. This is very classy juice though I stress that it is also markedly backward and in need of plenty of bottle age. Moreover, this is decidedly unlike most 2006s as it in unusually dry without a trace of exoticism. Lovely in every respect.
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Salon Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil Brut has a shining silver-golden color, the bubbles are tiny and enormously fine—they probably wouldn't stop rising from the bottom of the glass if you left the wine in it instead of drinking it. On the nose, there is a fascinating, pure and fresh bouquet with acacia, chalk, incense and concentrated lemon flavors. The 2006 is mouthfilling, round and elegant on the palate, as well as dense and tight but also fresh and cleansing, provided with great finesse, mineral complexity, length and structure. The finish is clear and aromatic, round and well balanced, slightly creamy, very intense, greatly finessed and truly elegant, with stimulating salinity in the aftertaste.
Wine Spectator
The creamy mousse of this graceful Champagne caresses the palate like cashmere, carrying a beautiful range of glazed nectarine, chopped almond, pastry and candied ginger flavors framed by vivid acidity. Seamless, with a long, lasting finish accented by minerally chalk and saline notes. Drink now through 2031.
Burghound
A restrained, cool and pure nose speaks of citrus, green apple, petrol, yeast and an interesting hint of quinine. The equally restrained, intense and wonderfully pure flavors are classic Salon with their slight edge of youthful austerity coupled with first-rate flavor authority and punch, all wrapped in a lemon rind-inflected and drier than usual finish that goes on and on. This is very classy juice though I stress that it is also markedly backward and in need of plenty of bottle age. Moreover, this is decidedly unlike most 2006s as it in unusually dry without a trace of exoticism. Lovely in every respect.