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By La-Orang Davies
It's official! 1996 produced a vintage Dom Perignon for Mo?t et
Chandon and is now being stocked up and enjoyed by connoisseurs
throughout Europe, America, Asia and the New World.
For those who have never had their palate caressed by the crisp
creaminess of a Dom Perignon, even a fleeting affair with this elixir
can quickly turn into a passion as just one mouthful decorates the
palate with a sensuous bouquet, giving those who experience its
secrets a deeper understanding of the reasons why this particular
champagne is so highly revered.
Just like the mist shrouded mountains of the Champagne region,
there is a certain mystique and secrecy that surrounds Dom Perignon.
Its prestige and reputation is known around the world but only a
fortunate few can actually afford to become intimate with it. Even
fewer people have the privileged information as to which year will
be the next vintage; That is a closely guarded secret and is not
known until wine from a good year has been bottled in the humid
chalk cellars for at least six or seven years.
Only then, once it has been tested to make sure it reaches the
high standards set by the ch?teaux, can it qualify as a vintage.
The Mo?t et Chandon vineyards produce a number of champagnes each
year, like Brut Imperial and White Star. Dom Perignon though, named
after the monk who invented champagne and was buried in the grounds
that now belong to Mo?t et Chandon, is special because, unlike the
other champagnes, it is made from the grapes of a single vineyard
and only from harvests following a year with all the right conditions
that will give Dom Perignon its particular character; not too strong,
not too light with a creamy texture and just the right amount of
sparkle. The first Dom Perignon vintage was 1921, eighty four years
on, there have only been 35 vintage years for the ch?teaux, making
the arrival of the 1996 vintage a much anticipated event.
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One immediately noticeable quality that can be seen with Dom Perignon,
apart from its golden hued clarity, is that the tiny streams of
bubbles continue to rise from the bottom of the glass for a long
time after the champagne has been poured; proof of the enduring
sparkle that Dom Perignon is particularly famous for.
The advantages of an evening in the company of a good champagne
is evident firstly when its gentleness does not cause one to become
too inebriated while at the same time its vivaciousness stimulates
enjoyable conversation. The morning after is further proof of a
good champagne's finesse when one wakes up with a clear head.
The essence of the flavour that really makes Dom Perignon the best
Champagne in the world lies in the region's chalk topsoil where
the grape vines grow. In the summer, the chalk soaks up the sun's
energy and locks it beneath the surface. In the winter, the chalk's
reserves of solar nutrients continue to feed and protect the vines
through the cold spells.
The summer sun is obviously important but the grape vines must
also experience a lengthy frost in the winter, in order to 'shut
down' and rest before producing their fruit for the hand picked
autumn harvest. If the winter months are too harsh, the grapevines
may become damaged and would then require a few years to recover.
1996 was one of those perfect years that had the right combination
of seasonal climate conditions to make it a vintage year, which
only now in late 2004, is being enjoyed.
One man lucky enough to be able to indulge in the delights of Dom
Perignon more often than most is Christophe Vincent, a native of
the Champagne region who was virtually raised on the hilly area's
sparkling nectar and is now 'Communication et Patrimoine Sommelier'
for Mo?t et Chandon. His first taste of champagne came even before
drinking his mother's milk. In the Champagne region, maternity rooms
will generally have a fridge, in which a bottle of champagne is
waiting patiently for the arrival of a new baby. A birth is traditionally
celebrated with the opening of a bottle of champagne, the first
spoonful being fed to the newborn before glasses are raised in a
toast. This is said to give the child a good complexion and 'sparkling'
vitality. Christophe's personality is evidence of that and if you
ever get to meet him, you'll notice the sparkling glint in his eyes
when he talks about the virtues of one of France's most prestigious
exports. Like the intimacy of experiencing a fine wine, Christophe
is not one to make speeches when hosting an event and prefers to
share his passion for the wonders of the champagne on an individual
basis. The first thing Christophe likes to remind people of is that
champagne is a wine and should be treated as such. Like other wines,
champagne is quite enjoyable on its own as an aperitif or for a
special event but even more so with the accompaniment of food. The
difference here is that one usually decides on an appropriate wine
by considering the food being ordered. With the indulgence of something
as delightful as Dom Perignon, it should be appreciated with the
finest food, carefully selected to compliment the champagne.
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With a life long love for fine food, Christophe has always been
somehow involved in the creation and presentation of it. Originally
working in the kitchens preparing culinary combinations, he found
it more inspiring to be on the other side of the swinging doors,
communicating with his guests face to face, helping them to appreciate
the blend of food and drink. Christophe's appreciation of wines
from around the world was fostered through his days of military
service as part of the French Navy, where he was able to indulge
in the varieties of bottled fermented fruits in over forty different
countries. He was then posted to French Polynesia where twenty years
ago wines from the New World were just emerging with their own unique
contribution to world cuisine.
According to Christophe, the Asian market for quality champagne
and other fine wines should not be underestimated. In this day and
age, as people are able to travel more easily, wines need to be
accessible across the continents. Dom Perignon is a wine 'sans frontier'
in that the price and quality never fluctuate whenever or wherever
in the world it is consumed. Whether you drink Dom Perignon in its
European birthplace or in a restaurant on the other side of the
world, the taste and quality is consistently the same.
Christophe also makes a valid claim that champagne is more versatile
than many other wines. Some red wines, for example, may contain
a lot of tannin, which tends to hang around in the mouth and can
obscure other flavours from the food. Drinking a good champagne
during a meal actually enhances the culinary experience; refreshing
the palate between mouthfuls and courses, ensuring a better appreciation
of each dish's individual flavours. When Christophe is invited to
oversee a champagne dinner, the food served is of great importance.
For this reason, he is usually accompanied by an entourage of culinary
experts, whose job it is to help ensure that guests will experience
the perfect combination of food and drink.
Dom Perignon's vintage 1996 introduction dinner in Thailand, however,
was under the supervision of the Peninsula Hotel's Executive Chef,
Uwe Faust and his talented team of culinary artists who created
an exquisite eight course meal for a privileged table of twelve,
including this writer, at the Paribatra restaurant overlooking the
Bangkok skyline on the 37th floor of Bangkok's Peninsula Hotel.
Christophe took this opportunity to demonstrate that Dom Perignon
has the right characteristics to be enjoyed with a wide range of
dishes, including the more pungent and spicy ingredients present
in Asian cuisine. The meal at the Peninsula included delicate seafood
dishes like Tasmanian oysters, Tuna with ginger juice and orange
oil, lobster with pumpkin and apricot chutney and Barramundi fish
with Thai green curry sauce. A Kaffir lime sherbet helped prepare
the palate for a slow roasted veal fillet with black truffle foam.
The meal was then topped off with a Mango on berry sampler with
coconut and banana ice cream. The Coffee and tea arrived with dark
and white Dom Perignon Champagne truffles.
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As with other luxury products like sports cars and designer clothes,
Dom Perignon enjoys the prestige of limited production; compared
to other wines, the production of Dom Perignon is relatively small
and there are allocations set for each area of distribution. Once
that allocation is used up, there is no more available until the
next vintage. Champagne grapes are hand picked and contribute to
only about 10% of the world's sparkling wines. As the market for
quality champagne expands, it is not unknown for customers to experience
shortages in supply of Dom Perignon.
Champagne often flows at special events like movie launches and
music concerts. June and July of 2004 took Christophe and his bottles
of bubbly to Taipei and Singapore for Christian Dior fashion shows.
In late November of 2004 the 1996 vintage arrived in Thailand on
invitation from the Peninsula Hotel, Bangkok. China and South Korea
were also part of Christophe's itinerary on his Asian tour.
Before the days of paid for product placement in feature films,
the uninitiated may well have known of Dom Perignon's prestigious
image from its association with Ian Fleming's 007 novels and films,
it is not a product that needs to be promoted by placement advertising
and at that time, Dom Perignon was considered Bond's favoured beverage
purely on its own merit, drunk by those who are able to appreciate
the finer things in life. Nowadays, manufacturers compete to have
their products seen or used in blockbuster movies, whereas Mo?t
et Chandon do not seek nor require such promotion. In the same vein,
Christophe, travelling the world with his bottles, branded flutes
and ice buckets is not necessarily to promote the most well known
champagne in the world; there is no need for that, but to ensure
that the prestige associated with Dom Perignon is maintained by
introducing and educating consumers to the champagne's delicate
characteristics, helping them to appreciate it for the skill, patience
and decades of experience that go into each and every drop of one
of a vintage.
Like all good things in life, the next vintage will eventually
come to those who wait. For now though, that knowledge is being
literally kept in the dark of the Ch?teaux de Mo?t et Chandon cellars
and surreptitiously so on the lips of the few who could be able
to make such predictions. The recent rise in global temperatures
in the early part of the millennium is making it increasingly difficult
to yield vintage harvests. Word has it though that 2004 was a particularly
good year for the Champagne region so by 2011, we might have an
answer! For the meantime, Dom Perignon can now be experienced by
the flute at selected outlets. Jesters, Pacific Rim Cuisine restaurant
at the Peninsula Hotel Bangkok is one of them. More information
can be found at www.moet.fr
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