Archive for September, 2010
Harvest, Take 2
We are now past midway through the harvest, with the good news of much higher ripeness than expected, and this across the board. The sanitary conditions are good for Chardonnay, whereas there is some botrytis affecting the Pinot Noirs. However this has been so far easily handled with careful sorting of the grapes and I consider it is a non-issue. There are a few sectors left to harvest, most notably Verzenay and Mailly. I plan to give you a fuller account of the harvest once the global picture becomes clearer.
In the meanwhile I would like to introduce you to Mi-Hyun Kim, a very talented photographer with whom I have already worked a few years ago. I have invited her to Dom Pérignon to experience the 2010 harvest. She will be your guide on the blog for the next couple of weeks, sharing her thoughts and her fantastic pictures with all of us.
’90, ’96 and ’02
My invitation as a guest on the Wine Berserkers forum has now come to an end. I am really pleased with the level of participation and the quality of the questions. I have actually selected two of them that I would like to reproduce here: the first today, the second in the next couple of weeks. You can find all the questions and answers on the special archive forum on Wine Berserkers.
Jeff Munro asked the following question:
Could you explain how the wines from these recent past three great vintages (’90, ’96, ’02) are similar and different from your perspective? Each has their merits, and it would be interesting to see what your thoughts are on them as a group and individually.
I also consider these three vintages as the greatest ones of the past 20 years at Dom Pérignon, and I am pleased that we made them available right as we speak: 2002 Dom Pérignon Vintage, 1996 Dom Pérignon Œnothèque and 1990 Dom Pérignon Rosé Œnothèque.
These three vintages all display a very strong character, making a statement about intensity, volume and stature. Two of them (1990 and 2002) showed a personality fusional with the style of Dom Pérignon, highlighting the typical aspects of ampleness, roundness and texture. To the contrary, the nature of the 1996 vintage was in tension with the character of Dom Pérignon: concentration and power to the point of being somewhat provocative and haughty. This confrontation with Dom Pérignon’s style helped create a great Champagne.
In a way it reminds me of wine & food pairings: one can either play on the complementarity (fusion), or the opposition (tension). In both cases outstanding results can be achieved, but the greatest challenge lies with finding harmony in conflict.
- Behind The Scenes20last : Dom Pérignon Vintage 2003
- Reaching Out14last : Vintage 2003: A Challenge To Creation
- Looking Back8last : Milestone
- Looking Forward10last : Dark Revelation
