Thanks to Brix For A Taste of Salon Champagne

This time of year we begin thinking about the sparkling wine we'll serve on New Year's Eve. Thanks to Brix on Broad we've completed some of our research and purchased two wines that could sparkle our pathway to 2010.

For many years, Champagne Salon has been on our short list of potential New Year's Eve wines.  We've watched wine lists and scoured invitations for an opportunity to taste the wines from legendary champagne house Delamotte.

Last week the folks at Brix on Broad invited us to a tasting of the Delamotte line- from the Champagne Delamotte Non-vintage Brut through the Champagne Salon Le Mesnil 1997 Blanc de Blancs.

At events like this, you'll most likely be asked to taste the entire range of a producer's wine before you receive a top-of-the-line sample. We think this makes sense for both the producer and the customer.

In reality most of those attending the Salon tasting were more likely to purchase champagnes in the $50 to $100 price range. Only a few of those present would spend hundreds of dollars on a bottle of Salon that still requires years of perfect cellaring before it reaches its full potential.

When we arrived, Jean-Baptiste Cristini from Delamotte (pouring Salon in the photo above) explained that as we moved from their non-vintage brut through the rose and 1999 Blanc de Blancs, we would find less and less blending of varietals. The brut is 50% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 20% Pinot Meunier. The Rose is 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay. And, of course, the 1999 Blanc de Blancs is all Chardonnay.

By the time we walked across the shop for our introduction to the 1997 Salon we were presented with a wine made from a very limited selection of Chardonnay fruit from the Le Mesnil-sur-Oger grand cru vineyard.

In the years when they make Salon, (only 32 times in the past 88 years) it is made with grapes from "severly pruned vines that are at least 40 years old." Then only the "cuvée" or "first pressing" is used. It is fermented in stainless steel and the wine never sees any oak.

The result is a very clean, pure, elegant wine. Like a perfectly-polished Paul Revere bowl*, it is so pristine that it would show any flaw or off-note. You can understand why the vintners at Delamotte find so few years when grapes achieve the perfection needed to produce this wine.

Our discovery in this tasting was that we loved both the Non-Vintage Brut and Rose. We bought both, and tucked then into the bottom of our wine rack as potential New Year's Eve wines.

In guiding your own selections, you should know that all our favorite Champagnes give a nod to Pinot Noir in their blend.

If your preference is for a pure Chardonnay sparkler, consider the Champagne Delamotte 1999 Blanc de Blancs. And, if you have a very special occasion, the Champagne Salon Le Mesnil 1997 Blanc de Blancs will present you with the ultimate expression of that style.

We'll tell you more about Brix, why we like their shops, their tastings and their "Brix Six" samplers in an upcoming article.

* Thank you to Bob and Carol Russell of Westport Rivers Vineyard and Winery for teaching us this analogy when they described their idea of a perfect Blanc de Blanc. Their lesson has stayed with us. Thanks to them, we have a way of describing wines that have the elegance and purity of a silver masterpiece.

One of the articles I found say that Delamotte suggests serving Salon in a more rounded, tulip-shaped champagne glass rather than a flute with very straight sides. We love these Reidel glasses that seem to fit that suggestion.

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