RJ ON DP Dom Pérignon – the name alone makes most of us break out in a delightful smile. When we think of this 17th-century monk from Hautvillers – so often pointed out as the father of Champagne – we either regard him with historical reverence, or associate his name with the proudest of all wine labels and everything else that follows in its glamorous, sparkling wake. Just imagine all the classic movie scenes that have been sweetened by a bottle of Dom Pérignon. Bond movies usually spring to mind. Countless times I’ve sat and sighed over agents with a license to kill: villains and exquisite women in seductively luxurious surroundings, all revelling in icy Dom Pérignon. Most champagne enthusiasts have their favourite scene. Mine is when Scaramanga, the man with the golden gun, shoots the cork off a bottle carried on a tray by his dwarfish servant Nic-Nack, along a now-famous Thai beach. The most comical scene must be when Sean Connery is served a 1957 Dom Pérignon, a vintage that never existed. Brilliant research!
1998 DOM PÉRIGNON ‘CUVÉE DOM PÉRIGNON OENOTHÈQUE’ | Epernay | Champagne | France | Dom Pérignon | 50PN 50CH | RJpoints 93(95)
TASTING NOTE ‘brilliant apéritif @ La Residencia in Mallorca. A very stylish wine as usual, gaining much of the late disgorging. Might be too ascetic and sea-scented for the experienced Dom Pérignondrinker. Salty, iodine, seaweed and fresh sashimi is joined by a cool floral notes and hints of kiwi fruit on the nose. The flavor also has a weak toasty element and chalky aromas that spreads with time in the glass. Velvety mineral aristocratic touch which sustains long and clean as a symphonie of Dvorak.’
