1975 Dom Pérignon Œnothèque

One of the most fascinating aspects of Champagne is its ability to transform over time. This remarkable tasting provided a truly once in a lifetime opportunity to compare the three principal releases of Dom Pérignon across a number of iconic vintages of the 1960s and 1970s.

I have had many unforgettable tastings during my annual visits to Dom Pérignon, but I don’t think I have ever had an opportunity to taste so many of the house’s Champagnes in a single sitting. This retrospective was organized and hosted by a collector from the Midwest for the simple pleasure of sharing the wines with a group of close friends. We tasted the Champagnes over dinner at Michael White’s Marea. Wine Director Francesco Grosso did a fabulous job looking after the wines. Every aspect of service was spot on.

I tasted wide range of wines this year with Chef de Caves Richard Geoffroy. While some of the older Champagnes I tasted are sublime, the truth is they will be nearly impossible to come by and priced in the stratosphere. Those wines should be great, and they are often much more than that. Instead, though, it is the 2005 that impressed me most given how difficult that vintage was in Champagne. Moët made no vintage wines at all under their label that year, just a bit of Dom Pérignon and Dom Pérignon Rosé. From what I have tasted so far, the 2005s here will be among the wines of the vintage. Best of all, they will provide great short and medium-term drinking while the 2002s and 2004s are left in the cellar. Readers should note that with the 1998 vintage, the Oenothèque series has been re-branded as P2 and P3 which refer to the second and third plenitudes, or windows of maturity, for those wines. If anything, though, the P2 wines are being released too early. The 1996 is only now beginning to deliver real pleasure. It will be interesting to see how long the soon-to-be-released 1998 takes to reach the same place. In my view, Dom Pérignon remains one of the best relative values in high-end, collectible wine. My suggestion is to buy the wines immediately upon release (to mitigate issues that might arise with provenance) and forget about them for at least a decade.

This wine was tasted over dinner at the Third Annual White Truffle Charity Dinner in November 2009.

This wine was tasted at the Fourth Annual Truffle Charity Dinner in November 2011.

This wine was tasted over a dinner at Del Posto that was so amazing I hardly know where to start. The collection of wines we tasted was mind-boggling. Our initial theme was a complete vertical of Bruno Giacosa’s mythical Barolo Collina Rionda, which we managed to pull off, save the 1968. All the reason to make another attempt in a few years’ time. Before we knew it, a desire to taste a few older Champagnes turned into a full-fledged second theme of 1970s Dom Pérignons. The food and service were both superb and fully befitting of Del Posto’s recent 4-star rating by The New York Times. In particular, I adored the wood-grilled lobster (always outstanding here) and the stinco di vitello. On this night, the service was especially stellar. As readers can see by the number of wines we opened, ours was not an easy table to take care of, but Del Posto anticipated our every need (including a sprained ankle I sustained earlier in the day) with the highest level of professionalism.

This wine was tasted over a dinner at Del Posto that was so amazing I hardly know where to start. The collection of wines we tasted was mind-boggling. Our initial theme was a complete vertical of Bruno Giacosa’s mythical Barolo Collina Rionda, which we managed to pull off, save the 1968. All the reason to make another attempt in a few years’ time. Before we knew it, a desire to taste a few older Champagnes turned into a full-fledged second theme of 1970s Dom Pérignons. The food and service were both superb and fully befitting of Del Posto’s recent 4-star rating by The New York Times. In particular, I adored the wood-grilled lobster (always outstanding here) and the stinco di vitello. On this night, the service was especially stellar. As readers can see by the number of wines we opened, ours was not an easy table to take care of, but Del Posto anticipated our every need (including a sprained ankle I sustained earlier in the day) with the highest level of professionalism.

This wine was tasted over a dinner at Del Posto that was so amazing I hardly know where to start. The collection of wines we tasted was mind-boggling. Our initial theme was a complete vertical of Bruno Giacosa’s mythical Barolo Collina Rionda, which we managed to pull off, save the 1968. All the reason to make another attempt in a few years’ time. Before we knew it, a desire to taste a few older Champagnes turned into a full-fledged second theme of 1970s Dom Pérignons. The food and service were both superb and fully befitting of Del Posto’s recent 4-star rating by The New York Times. In particular, I adored the wood-grilled lobster (always outstanding here) and the stinco di vitello. On this night, the service was especially stellar. As readers can see by the number of wines we opened, ours was not an easy table to take care of, but Del Posto anticipated our every need (including a sprained ankle I sustained earlier in the day) with the highest level of professionalism.

When I was a child my father gave his best customers bottles of Dom Pérignon as a holiday gift. From an early age, to me Dom Pérignon was virtually synonymous with fine Champagne. I imagine many people feel the same way, as Moët et Chandon has done a remarkable job in building Dom Pérignon's prestige around the globe. While some of the large production Champagnes often give emphasis to style over substance, there can be no denying that at its best Dom Pérignon is more than just a brand. There is something quite magical about Dom Pérignon, especially in strong vintages. This recent tasting with Chef de Caves Richard Geoffroy and Winemaker Vincent Chaperone provided a great opportunity to check in on handful of new and past releases. It was quite fitting that on this cold day we tasted in the abbey at Hautvillers, where the Benedictine monk and cellarmaster, Dom Pérignon, advanced a number of viticultural and oenological techniques that were incredibly forward-thinking for his era, some 300 years ago. One of the things that is most remarkable about Richard Geoffroy is his artistic, introspective personality. While so many winemakers in Champagne consistently rave about how great their wines are, Geoffroy is not afraid to talk about mistakes and lessons learned along the way, something that makes him rather rare among his colleagues. Geoffroy describes Dom Pérignon as a wine of paradoxes. “Dom Pérignon is perceived as quite traditional and classic in the minds of consumers,” says Geoffroy “but the reality is quite different. As opposed to the traditional, oxidative style some houses pursue, Dom Pérignon is made in a more modern, reductive style aimed at maintaining acidity and freshness.” Although Geoffroy uses only natural yeasts for Dom Pérignon, he says the real secret is in the blending of vineyards and grape varieties, much of which remains top-secret, as do production numbers. Geoffroy describes his winemaking as striving to bring out what he calls “grey” tones that remain an element of freshness rather than the more oxidized, honeyed aromas and flavors, which he classifies as “brown.” He talks about the Pinot elements requiring time to emerge, while the Chardonnay components are rather evident from the outset. Over the years, Geoffroy has also moved to lower dosage levels for his wines. For example, the 2000 Dom Pérignon saw just 6 grams of dosage, which is decidedly towards the lower end of the spectrum for the large production Champagnes.

This wine was tasted over dinner at Alto in New York City, April 2008.