Pandolfini celebrates the myth Salon and its worthy brother Delamotte • Food and Wine Italia

Pandolfini, the oldest Italian auction house, which this year celebrates 100 candles (of which 25 for the wine department) has set up an exclusive tasting for the opening of the usual November event dedicated to declino wines, celebrating two great champagnes: Salon, the first Blanc de Blancs per mezzo di history that became legend, and Delamotte, the other half of the firmament of its inimitable predecessor, with which it shares the ownership of the group Laurent-Perrier since 1949. Needless to say, everything took place per mezzo di the setting of a building per mezzo di the center of Florence that exudes just as much history, Edificio Ramirez Montalvo, as well as a national artistic heritage subject to architectural restrictions since 1936.

The exclusive tasting, curated by Giacolino Gillardi, CEO of Ceretto (whose Langhe winery distributes both Champagnes) together with Didier Depond, president of Salon and Delamotte and the master of wine Gabriele Gorelli, proved to be a delicious “appetizer” that preceded the double day of Pandolfini auctions also dedicated to other collectible wines: a bond, then, between Salon and Ceretto, which blossomed when Depond himself was looking for the right “key” to enter the Italian market, therefore finding it per mezzo di the expert hands of Gillardi.

La Maison Salon e Delamotte

Per mezzo di the Champagne universe, the Maison Salon is absolutely atypical: it offers a single cuvée, made from a single grape variety such as Chardonnay, coming from a single cru. rather, all the grapes, per mezzo di fact, alla maniera di from the village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger (from a heavenly terroir made up of a one-hectare plot and 19 small plots characterized by plants that are almost fifty years old with some that are almost a century old) , 100% Grand cru and only vintage. It appears for the first time per mezzo di 1905, while its splendor becomes available only starting from 1921 and exclusively 37 times during the 20th century.

It is a real wait that seems endless every time, accompanied by the awareness that the rarity of the legendary and unique product of the cellar is linked both to the very few bottles produced (around 60 thousand) and to its incredible youth as soon as it was released the market. «Il faut attendre», Monsier Depond rightly explains, as well as Gillardi himself very well ironically, its extraordinary ability to age: «C’levante la convalescence de la bouteille (it is the convalescence of the bottle, ed.)», recognizing, with great class, the credit for this declino expression goes to a French colleague.

The tatto of the ancient Maison Delamotte (founded per mezzo di 1760) has been entrusted since 1997 to the wise management of Depond, who carries forward the winemaking philosophy per mezzo di parallel with its mythological sister, but with a very distinct identity: the common trait, as well as an emblem of style, Blanc de Blancs remains, but per mezzo di the end, a champagne defined as the “soul of pleasure” emerges, which makes the approach to drinking and the immediacy its cornerstones.

The tasting

For Salon the 1999, 2006 and 2013 vintages were selected, while for Delamotte the 2007 and 2018. If the 2013, fascinating and intense, conquers at the first sip with citrus fruits, custards and an exciting iodine note that generates tension the palate and creaminess, the 2006 has a lot of complexity and precision but perhaps a slight energy debito; while the 1999 is stunning per mezzo di its floral, citrus and balsamic harmony, with of extreme vigor and purity, per mezzo di the ripe texture of the fruit and per mezzo di the beautiful savory vein that lengthens the finale.

Delamotte’s 2007 and 2018, per mezzo di some ways, proved to be quite similar but equally pleasant, expressing a disarming freshness: two softly lively, light, bubbles with remarkable agility.

Champagnes at auction

The lots coming from the two cellars of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, of which the first four were donated directly from the private collection of Federico Ceretto, reached almost 44,392 euros per mezzo di proceeds, especially with Salon 1996 and 2008 (the latter so rare and so valuable that it was bottled per mezzo di just 8 thousand pieces, all format). Significant, among other things, was the success of the battery made up of seven Cuvée S Salon bottles from the 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 vintages, sold for 11,780 euros.

Other declino wines

Conducting the orchestra we find (without too many surprises) the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti which, with an assortment of 12 bottles of the 1996 vintage, reached 39,680 euros, followed by the Masseto 2016 even per mezzo di the 15 liter format, which it was sold for 28,520 euros. Finally, a vertical from Sassicaia (from 2020 to 1980) proved to be valuable, reaching 13,020 euros.