Champagne Salmon : The Meunier Experts
There are 19,000 growers in Champagne only 5,000 make their own champagne = do the math, that’s 26% people, that’s peanuts! Out of the 26% - 28 , yes 28 are part of the exclusive “Club Trésors de Champagne” - Champagne Salmon being one of them. Put simply, they put an extreme amount of attention, care and love into their champagnes. Champagne Salmon is a third generation of winemakers who’s wines have a sense of place and embody the individual grape variety’s soul, of which is predominantly Meunier. They carry 3 lines of champagne - Collection Montgolfière, Collection Meunier and Collection Spécial Club. The Montgolfière line is a reflection of an enormous passion that Olivier and Alexandre have for hot air ballooning. A Montgolfière is French for hot air balloon, their label of this line is a hot air balloon AND they have a very large sculpture of a hot air balloon at the winery’s entrance. It’s a poetic union of their two passions - wine and hot air balloons :
“Flying over Champagne in a hot-air balloon, as we like to do, anchors us down to this terroir. We take it to heart to express tradition and exception through the quality and finesse of our productions. Our family passion for traveling in hot-air balloons is akin to that which makes us gather in the vineyards, around the great grape press and in the cellars where we elaborate the cuvées of the house Salmon.”
They have a profound respect for tradition that carries from the the vineyards into the winery. These winemakers were sustainable farmers and winemakers before it became “à la mode” - I mean they still use horses to plow the rows! In their vineyards of Chaumuzy in Montagne des Reims, 85% are dedicated to the Meunier varietal. They focused on this varietal for a few reasons - it buds later protecting it from frost, it ripens earlier with a perfect balance of ripeness and acidity and lastly the clay-limestone soil heightens the minerality and fruitiness. Their wines are like a woman - elegant, feminine, powerful and have a strength of character.
Champagne Salmon Montgolfière Sélection Brut is a blend of 50% Meunier, 25% each Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. It’s deep golden hue with lovely aromatics of floral honeysuckle, green apple, peach, apricot, smoke, pear, brioche and honey. It’s lively, persistent bubbles amplify the delicious flavors of golden apple, peach, apricot, pear, smoke, honeysuckle, brioche, pastry, honey, ginger, light hazelnut and beeswax. It’s elegant, lively and complex all in one gorgeous bottle.
I enjoyed this lovely bubbly with herbed butter, browned butter lobster rolls but it would also we lovely with lightly poached scallops with cream and dill, oysters and white peach mignonette, lobster bisque, turkey vol au vent or mushroom stroganoff. The possibilities are endless.
