Vintage 2010: the passage of time reveals Dom Pérignon’s unique mastery
© Dom Pérignon
Creating Dom Pérignon Vintage 2010 drew on the inspiration and mastery of Vincent Chaperon, Chef de Cave of Dom Pérignon, followed by ten years of patient metamorphosis in the cellars. This exceptional vintage is the fruit of a particularly daunting harvest. The celebrated Champagne house rose to the challenge with bold creativity.
Every vintage is a wager, a creative act that requires much more than simply technique. This creation demands intuition, mastery and magic to craft a Dom Pérignon champagne. The 2010 vintage of this legendary elixir is a striking example.
Faithful to its heritage, Dom Pérignon is always made from the grapes of a single year, not a blend from several years like other Champagne houses. This means continually adapting to nature, which proved to be extremely tempestuous in 2010, making the challenge more complex than ever. It took all the inspiration and mastery of Dom Pérignon Chef de Cave Vincent Chaperon to bring this creative process to fruition.
Unpredictable weather – a rigorous winter, a dry spring and a warm summer punctuated by the equivalent of a month of rainfall in just two days – led to fantastic maturation, but also the development of botrytis mold on the grapes, mainly the pinot noir.
In a race against the clock, Vincent Chaperon decided to sacrifice part of the harvest to save parcels that the mold had spared. Only specific parcels were selected and the grapes meticulously sorted to reveal the best of a vintage rich in contrasts. Then the pinot noir grapes were assembled with the chardonnay grapes, elevating the quality. An exceptional winemaker, Vincent Chaperon succeeded in his second vintage for the Maison in making the Vintage 2010 an exceptional cuvée that fully expresses Dom Pérignon’s singular vision and aesthetic ideal.
Already lauded by leading experts, including Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, Dom Pérignon Vintage 2010 is a richly expressive and extremely balanced champagne, with a nose of floral and citrus notes. On the palate, the generous champagne reveals peppery and spicy vibrations. A wager that was clearly won…
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