A friendship has immediately appeared at the first time we met with Richard Geoffroy, the man who « makes » Dom Pérignon. I was attending a tasting of this champagne, and Richard talked about the peaks of perfection of DP, which appear when the champagne is 7, 14 or 28 years old. It was the first time that a wine maker was talking of one of my theories concerning the life of a wine, which I see with ups and downs, on a curve which looks like a sinusoid with a variable period. This model is the only one which is compatible with the fact that wines of 150 years appear so vibrant, a possibility which is not given by the theory of the plateau of maturity.
So we talked about that and immediately a need to meet again appeared. We met recently for the dinner that I organised called : “the dinner of the friends of Bipin Desai”, and we took an appointment for a visit that I would make in the world of DP.
I arrived in the abbey of Hautvillers, and we were only three people in a huge room on the first floor of the abbey : Richard Geoffroy, Vincent Chaperon, the oenologist of DP and of other wines of the group, and me. It is very interesting to notice what the subjects are which are considered by Richard. He thinks of the DP 1999, which is now making its appearance in the world, and he thinks of the year 2007, as every manager in the LVMH group has a very great level of freedom, but has requirements of performance which are very demanding. Despite the friendly atmosphere of this meeting I noticed how Richard was completely involved in his main targets.
I had said to Richard that I had brought something with me, and that I would judge at which moment it should appear.
So we began our tasting, and we took a sufficient time between the wines to talk about strategy.
The 1999 has a very strong bubble. The smell is very pure. The bubble attacks the tongue. My first impression is gingerbread. Richard gives an image : it’s brown. The alcohol is very strong. It has muscles, it is virile. A very different champagne from 1998.
The 1998 has a more golden colour. The nose is expressive. The gingerbread is softer. The champagne is more feminine. I love its grace.
The 1996 has a perfect nose. It is extremely elegant. Impressive. I love the pink fruits aspect.
The nose of the 1995 is less full of joy than the 1996. I feel butter. There is a strict attack and a final length which is great with candied fruits and mint.
The 1996 is charming, with spices in the end, the 1998 is more gentle, and the 1999 will be very virile. All that corresponds to the strategy of Richard which is to preserve the typicality of Dom Perignon, which has to be a champagne which ages for long, but also to maximise the personality of every vintage, which will never be normalised but, in the contrary, revealed.
All the wines which come now are Oenotheque, and I will give the year of disgorgement.
The 1993 disgorged in 2006 has a charming nose made of spices. The attack is friendly, with a lot of spices, the final is salty, like an oyster’s shell.
The 1992 disgorged in 2005 has also a spicy nose. The attack is elegant and subtle, sweet. It is fruity and round. The final is bitter. These two champagnes take advantage of having got a little age. When I drink the 1992 and then the 1996, the difference of quality is immense. But when drinking the 1992 and the 1993 we are with DP of years of transition, which have their own charm when they are not in competition.
The 1973 disgorged in 1999 has a very expressive and intense nose. The attack is elegant. Butter and spices. The length is not excessive, but the general impression is very big. Butter, minerality and spices.
The 1976 disgorged in 2003 has a magic nose. It is the perfect nose. The bubble is very fine as for the 1973. Very sunny, it is paradoxically more astringent than the 1973. I see the 76 more strict, but with a structure more complete than the 73. Richard says that the 73 is more in the definition of DP, and that 76 represents more the vintage. The 76 is a wine for gastronomy. Its final is immense, going to oriental complexities. The 73 is friendly and sweet to finish in saltiness. Two big champagnes.
The 1966 disgorged in 2004 has a nose which is evolved, toasted. The nose is seducing. In mouth it is happiness. Everything is integrated. It is round, sweet, calm, and then the spice appears. The final is of a cake, which would live with salt. Richard talks of a rolling stone, which is the expression that I use to describe an old wine : a silex which becomes a rolled stone.
The 1962 disgorged in 2002 has a delicious orange colour. The nose is discrete. In mouth it is a pure enigma. Impossible to define. There is cake with bitterness, litchi, white fruits. But whenever you think you can catch its image it changes. Impossible to classify, I adore its enigmatic taste. I dream to have it with a creamy fish. As I love enigmatic Burgundies, I am in love with this 62.
The first 1959 has a problem. The second 1959 disgorged in 1999 has a golden colour. The nose has an intense minerality. In mouth it is absolutely glorious. It represents a synthesis which is passionating. Because it seems to be incomplete, but it is complete. Lacking of something, but having everything. Puzzling and fascinating. And then I have an intuition based on the intuition that I had when I prepared this trip.
I ask the sommelier who pours our glasses to go and take the gift that I had in my car. And he comes back with a box of Dom Pérignon. Imagine the thoughts of Richard, as it is as to bring coal to Newcastle ! The last place where to bring a DP is by DP. Richard looks at the box and sees the year : 1976. He opens the box and inside, there is a Chateau Chalon Jean Bourdy 1947.
And now what will happen is something which will be printed in our memory for ever.
The Chateau Chalon by sort of a miracle, as if it had understood my intentions is a rather quiet one. And it is perfect to match the DP 59.
What is incredible is that the Chalon enlarges the DP which becomes ten times greater. The two wines tend to combine their tastes by sort of a mimesis. Vincent gives the image of the finger of a glove, as the tastes organise themselves to be completely interdependent.
We are exactly in the position as if we were the masters of puppets, and now the puppets are the masters of their masters. The wines were freed and were playing a harmony which was incredible. We were conscious that we were living something unique.
And Richard told me that in Japan, one of the most famous sommelier had had a similar idea to combine a 1959 DP with very old sake and it gave the same impression of total fusion.
We were in paradise. Richard was completely puzzled to see that in a tasting of some prestigious DP, the star was the encounter of a Jura wine with a 59 DP.
We went to have lunch by the “Trianon”, the place where the staff of Moët makes important receptions, and the three of us we had a meal, served by a man whom I know for long, wearing white gloves, who served the DP 99 as it is the star of the moment.
Four courses were designed to show the talent of the DP 99. Caviar with avocado cream, oyster with a ginger sauce, a risotto with cuttlefish ink, and a langoustine marvellously prepared which showed all the talent of this promising 1999.
The magnum Dom Perignon rosé 1990 can be described by just one word : perfect. Why would I take time to describe it when the word “perfect” exists? It went very well with a salmon slowly cooked with truffles.
We finished a nice dessert on Oenothèque 1992 and with drops of my Chateau Chalon 1947 that I offered Richard to keep as he was having a management meeting with his team.
Would I rank what I have drunk, which could be a little restrictive. I will risk to make a ranking : 1959, rosé 1990, 1966, 1973, 1996, 1962, 1976, 1995, 1998, 1993-1992. I will not include the 1999 in this ranking as it is much too young to be included in it.
I stayed alone in this lovely salon to have a coffee with a Hennessy Paradis. But as the birthname of my friend is Richard I could not finish by anything else than the Hennessy Richard, a perfect taste which finished magnificently a day to remember for ever.