Salon 'Cuvee S' Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs 2012

A furrier's private champagne

Eugène-Aimé Salon was born on October 7, 1867, in Pocancy, a village at the foot of the Côte des Blancs. Uninterested in the family farm, he went to Paris, joined the furrier Chapal in Montreuil and rose to run its expansion, becoming a fixture of the city's social life. He also wanted a champagne of his own.

With help from his brother-in-law Marcel Guillaume, a cellar master, he compared the vineyards of Cramant, Avize, Oger and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and settled on Le Mesnil, and on the plots above the church, for the balance of sugar and acidity that promised long aging. His idea was radical for the time: a champagne from one grape, Chardonnay, one village and one year, with no Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier blended in. The house calls him the pioneer of the blanc de blancs style.

The dates of the house's birth vary by source. The house gives 1905 as Salon's first vintage, made for his own pleasure and his friends. One account says he bought his one-hectare vineyard in 1911, and one specialist retailer gives 1911 as the founding date in one place and says the house was founded in 1920 in another. The first commercial vintage is usually given as 1921, and recent critics count Salon's releases 'since 1921.'

Maxim's, a looted cellar and a forgotten jewel

In the 1920s Salon became the house champagne at Maxim's in Paris, and its founder belonged to the gourmet society known as the Club des Cent. A 1928 Maxim's menu listed 'Salon & Cie, Mesnil Nature, Cuvée Pure de Raisins Blancs 1921, Vin de Grand Cru (Blanc de Blancs),' an early use of the term. Eugène-Aimé Salon died in 1943.

The house's later fate is tied to a wartime story. Bernard de Nonancourt, who would later head Laurent-Perrier, saw German soldiers take champagne, including cases of Salon 1928, from his family's business. In 1945, serving in a French tank unit, he was among the first into Hitler's Berchtesgaden retreat and found thousands of looted bottles, including Salon 1928. Accounts suggest he never forgot it.

About 20 years after Salon's death, the house was sold to Besserat de Bellefon, which became part of Pernod Ricard. Didier Depond, Salon's president since 1997, recalls that up to the late 1980s the wine was given away to restaurants: a sommelier who bought 100 bottles of Besserat would get six or 12 bottles of Salon free. Laurent-Perrier bought Salon in 1989 (one writer gives 1988), and it now shares a cellar master and vineyards with its neighbor and sister house, Delamotte. Michel Fauconnet became the oenologist in 2004, succeeding Alain Terrier.

2012: the vintage that was not supposed to happen

The house describes 2012 as a year when the vines 'had been through it all.' After a mild start, winter struck in February with temperatures of minus 10 and even minus 20 degrees Celsius. April brought heavy rain and glacial nights, a cold snap hit during flowering, and the rain continued into July. Then August opened with a heatwave. The crop was small. Harvest began in Le Mesnil on September 17.

It was, by most accounts, a Pinot Noir year rather than a Chardonnay one, and in 2014 Depond was quoted saying that 'since 2008, there has been no genuinely great vintage in Champagne' and that there would be no Salon 2012. A 2021 article about the house repeated that no 2012 was planned. But in the vats, the house says, 'a miracle was taking place, a grand vin was emerging, with the hint of a smile.' Depond reportedly nicknamed it 'the smile' when he saw the grapes coming in, and he and cellar master Michel Fauconnet decided to release it.

The 2012 became the 43rd Salon. It followed the 2008, the house's 42nd, which was bottled only in magnums, just 8,000 of them, and sold only as part of a multi-vintage case. Critics reviewed the 2012 as 'just released' in September 2021, and one specialist retailer reported bottles arriving in late January 2022, with magnums to follow later that year. The 2013 became the 44th Salon, and the 2015, released ahead of the 2014, the 45th.

What the critics found

William Kelley of the Wine Advocate rated it 98+ and wrote that 'after the 2008, the finest Salon produced this millennium,' describing citrus oil, wet stones, freshly baked bread, white currants and oyster shell, and a wine 'a lot more incisive' than the 2002 at the same stage. Antonio Galloni gave it 97, calling it 'all harmony and class' and comparing its shape to the 2007 with the freshness of the 2008.

Pascaline Lepeltier, writing for Decanter, gave 97 and noted yellow plum, white peach, pastry and almond, a 'powerful, ample Salon.' Essi Avellan MW raised her score from 93 to 95 and observed that the house 'wasn't promising us a vintage' early on. The house's own description speaks of pineapple, lychee, a touch of smoke and a smile 'as beguiling and mysterious as the Mona Lisa.'

One grape, one village, one year

Every bottle of Salon comes from Chardonnay grown in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, a village whose vineyards are all ranked grand cru: the one-hectare 'Jardin de Salon' behind the house, last replanted in 2002, and 19 other small plots first chosen in the founder's day. One original plot, the Clos du Mesnil, was bought by Krug in 1971. The wine is made in stainless steel, used since the early 1980s, with no barrels; 'They are an enemy to freshness,' Depond says. Each vintage ages in the house's cellars for about ten years before release.

The label is green with a serpentine capital 'S,' which is why some sellers list the wine as Cuvée 'S'; US retailers usually list it as Salon Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs Brut. The house employs about ten people and makes no more than 60,000 bottles in any year, and only in years it judges great. Undeclared years go to Delamotte or are sold off, according to one reference.

Forty-five vintages in 120 years

The house says just 37 vintages were made in the 20th century. With 2015 now the current release, the total stands at 45, roughly three or four a decade. Back-to-back vintages are rare: one retailer notes that 1983, the 30th Salon, followed the 1982. Depond does not expect that to change. 'In the cellar today we have the vintages for the next 15 years,' he said. 'For us, 20 years is tomorrow.'

Scarcity shows in the price. A recent profile of the house reported that new Salon vintages are released at no less than 1,500 pounds a bottle and that rare vintages change hands on the secondary market for twice that and more. In October 2026, US retailers listed single bottles of the 2012 at $1,099 and $1,500.

The numbers

Vineyards

One-hectare 'Jardin de Salon' plus 19 small plots, all in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger (grand cru)

Grape

100% Chardonnay

Production

60,000 bottles of the 2012, per one critic's note; the house maximum in any year is 60,000

Vintage number

43rd Salon released

Wine Advocate (William Kelley, 2021)

98+

Antonio Galloni (2021)

97

Decanter (Pascaline Lepeltier)

97

Essi Avellan MW (2021)

93, later raised to 95

Timeline

1. Oct 7, 1867

   Eugène-Aimé Salon is born in Pocancy, at the foot of the Côte des Blancs.

2. 1905

   Salon makes his first all-Chardonnay champagne from Le Mesnil, for his own use.

3. 1911

   Salon buys a one-hectare vineyard in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, per one account; another source dates the house's founding to this year.

4. 1920

   The house of Champagne Salon is founded to supply his friends, per one specialist retailer.

5. 1921

   The first commercial vintage, by most accounts.

6. 1928

   A celebrated vintage; a Maxim's menu that year lists Salon's 1921 as a blanc de blancs.

7. 1943

   Eugène-Aimé Salon dies.

8. 1945

   Bernard de Nonancourt finds looted Salon 1928 in Hitler's Berchtesgaden retreat.

9. 1971

   Krug buys the Clos du Mesnil, one of Salon's original plots.

10. 1989

    Laurent-Perrier buys Salon (one writer gives 1988).

11. 1997

    Didier Depond becomes president of Salon and Delamotte.

12. 2004

    Michel Fauconnet succeeds Alain Terrier as oenologist.

13. Feb 2012

    Freezing temperatures of minus 10 to minus 20 degrees Celsius hit the vineyards.

14. Sep 17, 2012

    Harvest of the 2012 begins in Le Mesnil.

15. 2014

    Depond is quoted saying there will be no Salon 2012.

16. Sep 2021

    The Wine Advocate reviews the 'just-released' 2012 at 98+.

17. Jan 2022

    Bottles of Salon 2012 become available, per one specialist retailer; magnums follow later in the year.

18. Apr 2025

    The 2015, the 45th Salon, is reviewed on release, ahead of the 2014.

The world in 2012

• Feb 21, 2012

  Eurozone finance ministers agree on a second, 130-billion-euro bailout for Greece.

• Jul 4, 2012

  CERN announces the discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson.

• Jul 15, 2012

  Psy releases 'Gangnam Style.'

• Jul 27, 2012

  The London Summer Olympics open.

• Aug 6, 2012

  NASA's Curiosity rover lands on Mars.

• Oct 14, 2012

  Felix Baumgartner breaks the sound barrier in a skydive from 128,000 feet.

• Oct 22, 2012

  Hurricane Sandy forms; it goes on to cause 233 deaths and $68.7 billion in damage.

• Nov 6, 2012

  Barack Obama is reelected president of the United States.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Salon 'Cuvee S' Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs 2012 is number 47 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (33 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Salon's own cellar holds just one bottle of 1921, two of 1928, none from the 1930s and four of 1943.
• Until the late 1980s, Salon's then-owner gave it away: restaurants that bought 100 bottles of a sister brand got six or 12 bottles of Salon free.
• The 2008 Salon was bottled only in magnums, just 8,000 of them, and could be bought only as part of a multi-vintage case.
• Didier Depond nicknamed the 2012 'the smile' when he saw the grapes coming in.
• Salon uses no oak barrels at all; Depond calls them 'an enemy to freshness.'
• The whole house runs with about ten employees: six in the cellar and four in the office.
• The 2015 Salon was released before the 2014.