A night of Dom Perignon
I’m sitting here at a table surrounded by glasses, plates, empty bottles. Pink Floyd is playing. I’m sipping Leroy, Coutet and water alternatively. We’ve just consumed a bunch of extraordinary wines with a focus on Dom Perignon. All is right in the World.
Dom Perignon 1999
Served with Coffin Bay oysters.
Very tight and ungiving on the nose. A hint of apple and a smokey quality you’d expect from Dom. The palate is tight as well. The texture is creamy. The dosage seems fairly high. Probably needs time to settle but I was hoping for more.
Dom Perignon 1998
Served with scrambled egg on pumperknickel with smoked eel. Absolutely sumptuous.
Smokey oak, a hint of Burgundy-like honey suckle. Green melon fruits, youthful but … oxidative and worked. This makes it very approachable now. Delicious.
Dom Perignon 1996
Served with cream of smoked fish and riesling soup.
Unfortunately, this wine was corked.
Dom Perignon 1990
Served on roast figs.
Very developed. Vanilla, raspberry confiture, rich. Nuttiness on the palate but the finish is red berry fruits. It’s surprising how Dom Perignon goes like this: the Pinot takes over from the Chardonnay as it ages.
I’m a little worried about this wine. It is very advanced and I’ve had another bottle a year ago or so that suggests that this one was representative. I might not go the distance…
Dom Perignon 1985
Again, lots of red fruits but more toasty/oaky. Beautiful balance on the palate. Very creamy texture, immensely drinkable. It suffered, however, by comparison to the next wine.
Dom Perignon 1982
Rich and earthy. Beautiful fruit sweetness, like ’82 Bordeaux. Quite extraordinary. Very youthful. Superb in the mouth. I loved this wine.
Dom Perignon 1980
Very advanced and not as expressive as a bottle a few months ago. Iodine, vanilla, honied, burnt sugar. Drink up.
These beautiful wines were served with an Alsatian onion and speck tart.
Dom Perignon 1973
Smokey with pleasant oxidative notes. Brilliant youthful colour. Still some youthful pinot character amongst the toast and hazelnut. Great nose. The palate is still youthful. As I appreciated this wine, I noticed that the acid was really quite hard. It’s interesting how these wines can go either way: the fruit hides the acid or the acid masks the fruit. Regardless, this was a first class wine and well cellared bottles will go on… forever.
Dom Perignon 1971
The nose on this wine was a work or art. Truly, I was staggered by it’s freshness, it’s vitality, it’s complexity. It exploded from my glass an entirely unique aroma. When I make a special dessert for these guys I squeeze between my fingers blueberries. The juice falls into a sugar syrup for summer pudding. What an extraordinary aroma to smell on a wine of this age. The palate is a real surprise. It is near on bone dry and the slightness of the dosage is noticeable. It is halting. I think with further cellaring, however, this wine will take on a honied quality which will confuse the palate and it will seem well balanced. A challenging palate. Frankly, a superb wine which shows the greatness of Dom Perignon.
Dom Perignon 1966
How can a wine of this age be such a light colour? The nose and palate are very fresh. If tasted blind, this wine would appear to be no more than 20 years old. The only real give away is a hint of truffle or dried mushroom. I think the experts talk of “Mushroom Creme”. Regardless, I was enraptured by the sheer agelessness of this wine.
I wonder if Dom is being made now to last like these wines? The ’99 and the ’96 (despite being corked) were quite sweet tasting. The 1990 was quite developed. Is this sense of a change in Dom related to changes at Moet or am I romanticising the past. I look forward to tasting these wines again and learning more.
Now it was time for some substantial food. I survived a braised lamb neck with barley salad and beetroot salad. The reds served were:
La Lagune 1975
In exceptional condition, even with a mid shoulder level. Lots of graphite, tobacco. Perhaps a little green but great with food. Very long with great structure. Timeless.
Leroy “Les Beaux Monts” 1er Cru Vosne-Romanee 2000
Extremely lifted aromas of cherry and raspberry, paprika, earth, rhubarb and more. Shockingly intense for 2000. The palate shows the vintage with raspy tannins and lots of acid. Very long and complex. A guilty pleasure wine. Hard to not like, in my opinion, despite lots of extract. Will go on and on. About as good as you can get in premier cru territory.
Penfolds Grange 1982
I thought this was first class Bordeaux (LLC to be specific). A lift of American Oak made me realise my error. I think I finally understand the attraction to Grange. This was a very very good wine. There was great complexity and layers to the nose. The palate had excellent balance and length, it was powerful and yet subtle. What a great wine. Absolutely loved it.
Rayas “Pignan” 1990 Reserve
Against the Grange this looked very bretty and spicy. The palate was complex with game, ink, olives, herbs and more. Very tannic and long. Unfortunately, I found it hard to look past the brett.
Coutet 1976
Great colour. The nose was very soft. Just now, a few hours after it was opened, is it showing the classic smokey, botrytised marmalade-like aromas I expect. The palate is well balanced but seems to be drying out. There’s a metallic quality to the finish which suggests you should drink now rather than later.
There were a few other wines floating around but I didn’t look at them closely.
Thanks all for a great night.
