Lightly burnished yellow-gold hue with a halo-like mousse. Lovely aged aromas of citrus mineral and brioche. Citrus fl avors of grapefruit and lemon peel laced with char and chalk. Lively youthful fi nish embodies a perfectly dry acidic brut style. With every release this quintessential Blanc de Blancs sets the standard for chardonnay-based Champagne.

The 1997 Salon, tasted from the 2019 disgorgement, is fabulous. Scents of marzipan, honey, apricot jam, tangerine, spice and brioche open first, followed by touches of reduction from extended time on the lees. The 1997 is in some ways mature, and yet the recent disgorgement brings so much freshness. Today, the 1997 is peaking. It is an understated, beautifully layered Champagne to savor over the next decade or so, maybe longer. -- Antonio Galloni

The pure essence of limestone, this vintage is maturing into the grandeur of a great Le Mesnil Champagne while remaining fresh and lively. It offers rich lemon curd and baked apple flavors, chalky power and gravitas without weight. The flavors remain impacted below the limestone earthiness, the wine's structure and balance suited to extended aging.

The fabled Salon's latest release is much riper and softer than the great steely 1996 vintage. This suggests it is likely to be ready to drink soon. In the meantime, the acidity is supremely fresh, with grapefruit edges and green apple flavors. And then there is minerality and a tight, structured aftertaste as a reminder that this great Champagne is always going to be more than its fruit.

An elegant and very fresh but distinctly yeasty nose of stupendous breadth leads to incredibly intense pure detailed and vibrant fl avors that possess superb depth and simply knockout length. 1997 is a powerful Salon and even though it doesn't have the solid acid spine of the very best vintages this compensates by its approachability and terrifi c mouth feel.

A wine that just seems to go from strength to strength is Salon's 1997 Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil Brut. The Maison kept back large stocks that they have gradually been disgorging over the last half-dozen years—it's still a commercial release and well worth seeking out. From a bottle disgorged in 2020, the wine wafts from the glass with scents of honeycomb, white flowers and orange rind, complemented by hints of burnt marmalade and exotic fruit. Medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, it's notably taut and chiseled for the vintage, with racy acids and a beautifully expressive mid-palate. This is really beginning to drink with real grace, and if it doesn't hit quite the same heights as the best bottles of 1996 Salon, I have found the 1997 notably more consistent. I suppose it was picked a touch early, given the botrytis pressure in 1997, but time is being very kind to this wine. - William Kelley

1997 is certainly a more forward vintage of Salon, and consequently, it is drinking very well at age thirteen and is uncharacteristically wide open and ready for business at such a young age (for Salon). The bouquet is deep, pure and lovely, as it offers up scents of apple, lemon, warm bread, hard limestone minerality a touch of almond skin and incipient notes of the white chocolate to come with a bit more bottle age. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and blossoming in terms of structure, with a fine core of fruit, lovely, refined mousse and very good length and grip on the deep and powerful finish. This will never be the most complex vintage of Salon, nor the longest-lived, but for drinking over the next twenty or so years, it will provide a lot of pleasure. The wine will probably continue to gain in complexity as it continues to mature, and three or four years of cellaring would only allow it to open up even more. A very tasty vintage of Salon.