There isn’t much vintage champagne around. It accounts for only 1.6% of all champagne exports according to the CIVC (the regional body for Champagne). And it’s easy to forget that picking the grapes is only half the challenge. The wines then have to mature.

Salon has such exacting standards that they only produce a vintage champagne, only in the best years and only from chardonnay. The release of their 2004 champagne marks an historic moment in Salon’s history: only the 39th release in its history. In a vintage that Decanter rated 4/5, let’s look back at what happened around the world while the Salon grapes were being looked after in the cellar.