—by Tyson Stelzer
Under Didier Depond’s quiet stewardship, Salon has become champagne’s holy grail; a small luxury brand that punches far above its weight in the shadow of its seven-million bottle parent company. Here, the man behind the mystique explains how humility built an empire.
When Didier Depond was first offered the presidency of Champagne Salon over the phone nearly three decades ago, his first response was to ask his boss if he was drunk. All these years later, he oversees some of Champagne’s most exclusive and expensive bottles—fewer than 50,000 per vintage, each one coveted by collectors across the globe.
The year was 1997, and 33-year-old Depond was on assignment hosting a tasting abroad, having spent 11 years working his way up from a salesman to marketing director of Champagne Laurent-Perrier. The late Bernard de Nonancourt, then-owner of Laurent-Perrier, was on the line from Italy offering Depond the role.
Within a week, Depond was back in the home of this fabled house in the Champagne grand cru village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, assuming responsibility as president of Salon Delamotte.
The role would have him oversee both houses: the ultra-rare Salon, which releases vintages only in exceptional years, and Delamotte, the more accessible champagne house founded in 1760. Under Depond’s guidance over the past 28 years, Salon has risen to become one of the most sought-after champagnes globally, with the street price effectively tripling in less than a decade. But it wasn’t always this way.
“Thirty years ago, Salon Delamotte was not what it is today,” Depond recalls. “It was a little bit difficult, following ownership by Pernod Ricard, so it was not very famous and did not have a good image. I slowly started to rebuild the houses.”
It’s no simple calling to manage a small luxury brand under the broad umbrella of a large owner. Laurent-Perrier produces close to seven million bottles annually, while the recent release of fewer than 50,000 bottles of Salon 2015 represents just the 45th vintage since 1905.
“There are some examples of luxury products where they are no longer the same volume and no longer the same quality. But for the past 28 years, I have never, never, never increased the volume,” Depond emphasises. This is no small feat for a brand for which he estimates demand outstrips production 100-fold.
“It was very simple with Bernard [de Nonancourt]—no big strategy or crazy ideas. The only point that he emphasised repeatedly was, ‘You have time to do the best.’ Money was never a problem, and he always told me to take my time. ‘If you decide it is not the right vintage for Salon, it is your decision,’” the Laurent-Perrier veteran had told Depond.
It was this freedom that gave Depond the confidence to take on the role, despite his youth at the time. “I remain extremely free,” he explains. “And if this were not the case, I would not be in the company any longer.”
While giving Depond the autonomy to define his own role, de Nonancourt’s mentorship proved formative. “He was like my second father,” Depond reflects today, “an incredible man, a master, a direction to follow. He was close to two metres in stature, like a mountain, a rock. And he was super kind, super sweet and super strong. He was a role model for me. I am small and I am not very intelligent, so I tried to follow him,” he laughs.
Depond, of course, is much smarter than he admits, and is due credit also for the rise of Salon’s sister house, Delamotte. “The two houses are like my right and left hands, my balance,” he says. “Salon is the superstar, but like my two children with two different characters, I love Delamotte [equally].”
When Depond took the helm, Delamotte produced just 200,000 bottles annually, mushrooming to one million today. In an era when it is popular for champagne houses to increase the diversity of their offerings, Depond courageously bucked the trend by streamlining the Delamotte portfolio to just five cuvées. “This has not been a problem for us,” he reveals, “because when the market is difficult, it needs something that is clear.”
01 In its quest for perfection, Champagne Salon produces an average of just three to four vintages per decade
02 Didier Depond, president of Champagne Salon and its sister hourse Champagne Delamotte. Image: Leif Carlsson
03 Champagne Salon’s Blanc de Blancs style uses chardonnay grapes sourced exclusively from the grand cru village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
04 Wine critics consider the 2004 Champagne Salon among the greatest vintages of the past two decades
Meanwhile, Salon continues its dizzying upward spiral. “Thirty years ago, it was all about the bubbles,” Depond says, “and now champagne is seen as a great wine with bubbles, with perhaps even greater potential for ageing than other wines.” The transformation extends beyond perception to market dynamics. “We drink champagnes at 50, 70 or 90 years of age and they are still perfect. When I started [working] in Champagne 40 years ago, champagne was never in auctions.”
The turning point came roughly five years ago when an investment article appeared focusing on blue-chip wines like Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Petrus. “At the end of the article, it said, ‘If you want to make money fast, invest in Salon, because it is under the radar,’” Depond recalls. “After this article, the demand increased dramatically.” While he now works with auction houses, Depond maintains perspective: “This is not the priority for me. Auctions are good for the image, but not for day-to-day business.”
For all he has achieved in his tenure, Depond remains unassumingly reflective.
“My legacy at Salon and Delamotte, and in my personal life, is that I want to be the most discreet for those coming after me. I am not pretentious enough to believe I must leave something.
I have spent 28 years at Salon Delamotte, and maybe I will have five or 10 years more, and I will continue to work like this… and the next person will do it differently.”
It’s a mindset rooted in accepting constant change. “The last 30 years were different from how the next years, months and weeks will be,” he notes. “So, my focus is not on my legacy—what happens in 10 years is not important to me. Tomorrow is important, the next harvest is important. We will be very disappointed if we focus on 20 years. We need to be much more focused on the reality of the present.”