2015 Salon Brut Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil

Country: France Region: Champagne Vintage: 2015 Cépage: Chardonnay (100%) Size: 750 ml Rating(s): 95 (RP) " Released ahead of the 2014 rendition and originating from a dry, sunny growing season, Salon’s 2015 Brut Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil, disgorged in spring 2025 with a dosage of six grams per liter, follows in the footsteps of 2013, continuing a run of releases that are friendly from the start, without the austere edge that has often characterized this cuvée in the past. It expresses itself from the glass with a deep bouquet of orange peel, linden and freshly baked bread mingled with notes of lemon confit and subtle hints of lychee and mango. Full-bodied, concentrated and broad, it is fleshy and charming, with a generous core of fruit underpinned by ripe yet racy acidity and enlivened by a pillowy mousse, before concluding with a long, saline finish. This is a structured, open-knit Salon that carries a similar substance to its two immediate predecessors and will not disappoint those who choose to open it in its youth, despite my strong recommendation to cellar it for at least a decade—if not longer—as I anticipate it will follow a comparable evolutionary trajectory to the 1990 rendition." Kristaps Karklins (RP) - 03/26