Unveiling Dom Perignon 2003

When Dom Pérignon launched the much-anticipated 2003 vintage Champagne this week, Vintage Seekers was among the first to have a sip.

By Estella Shardlow on Thursday 2nd February, 2012

Dom Pérignon's Chef du Cave Richard Geoffroy introduced the 2003 vintage with a tasting and food pairing at the auction house Philips de Pury in Westminster. The exclusive event was simultaneously beamed to Hong Kong, New York, Tokyo and Paris, where Geoffroy appeared via hologram.

Speaking before a slide show backdrop of atmospheric shots of Hautvilliers, the village outside Epernay that is the home of Dom Pérignon, Geoffroy described 2003 as a particularly difficult vintage. “It was a challenge to make it Dom Pérignon, to find the Dom Pérignon style,” he explained, “but there was never the slightest doubt that we would produce a vintage that year.”

Many surely had their doubts given the climate Dom Pérignon's vineyards endured that year: a frost-bitten April saw up to three quarters of the Côte des Blancs Chardonnay crop destroyed, followed by the hottest summer in 53 years and an unusually early crop.

“It was a risk, a push-back of the boundaries,” Geoffroy confessed. But as those of us present found out upon raising our first glasses, it was well worth the gamble.

With hints of almond and candied fruits, developing into smoky, toasted notes, the 2003 is a sensational vintage. The finish is caressingly long, profound – something that Geoffroy aptly described as a “gliding” quality. “The intensity is unique and hovers between austerity and generosity,” he added.

A tasting menu was devised to enhance various elements of the vintage, waking up the palette to its salinity and bitterness as well as the sweeter fruit notes. We sampled truffled eggs, caviar on beetroot jelly, saffron risotto and foie gras with moule - an ancient Central American concoction of thirty spicy ingredients, which takes three days to make.

A blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, the Dom Pérignon 2003 is a pleasure to drink now and looks set to age equally well. As Antonio Galloni of Robert Parker.com predicted: “I will not be surprised if in 20 years’ time the 2003 is considered an iconic champagne.”

Dom Pérignon 2003 will be available in the UK from February 2012 at the rrp of £120.