2008 Salon Blanc De Blancs - Edition 2019 Magnum - 100 Points 150cl / 12%

A magnum bottle of 2008 Salon Blanc de Blancs Champagne, disgorged in 2019 and produced using only Chardonnay from the Grand Cru village of le Mesnil-sur-Oger.

'Disgorged in January 2019 with six grams per liter dosage, Salon's 2008 Brut Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil is a striking wine, unwinding in the glass with scents of citrus oil, fresh bread, crisp green apple, white flowers, smoke and oyster shell. Full-bodied, layered and incisive, it's deep and concentrated, with a tightly coiled core of fruit that's underpinned by a racy spine of acidity. Seamless and unerringly precise, it concludes with a long and penetratingly mineral finish. Immense though its potential for aging is, its intensity and balance make it pleasurable as well as persuasive, even today. Given the eye-watering price of this magnum-only release, I was determined to hold the wine to the highest possible standards, but it surpasses even the prodigious 1996 and surely ranks as the finest Salon since at least the 1970s. In short, this is a Blanc de Blancs that admits no argument. 100 points'

William Kelley, Wine Advocate, March 2021