2010 Dom Perignon

The 2010 Dom Pérignon is hard to get a read on today. I have tasted it four times over the last few months, and my feeling is that it is still not totally put together. Apricot, pastry, chamomile, mint and light tropical notes are all signatures of a hot vintage with a very fast final phase of ripening that trails only 2002 and 2003 in terms of sugars. Of course, the year had plenty of challenges. The first part of the year was marked by cold and very dry weather during the winter and spring. June saw heat and some stress in the vines. July and August were quite warm, with heavy rains on August 15 and 16 that caused a widespread outbreak of botrytis that accelerated rapidly in the days leading up to harvest. Chef de Caves Vincent Chaperon explained that Chardonnay was favored over Pinot because better aeration within the clusters helped fend off rot, while parcels that had been less stressed by the June heat also suffered less from the effects of botrytis. Perhaps because of the unevenness in the season, there is also something disjointed about the 2010. While sugars were high, so were acidities, just behind 2008 in the decade of the 2000s. It will be interesting to see where the 2010 goes over time. It is the first vintage made under the direction of Vincent Chaperon, who worked alongside outgoing Chef de Caves Richard Geoffroy for many years. (Originally published in August 2020)

Gorgeous, amply toasty and smoky nose. Still holding back. The fruit is impeccably crisp and appetising but still the palate carries the best surprises. There is such volume and generosity but look at the acidity rolling in complementing the exciting textural dynamics. It comes with a superbly saline and perfectly pristine finish, leaving the moth satisfyingly refreshed, yet yearning for more. There is an appetising fluffiness to the mousse and the wine takes its 5g/l dosage effortlessly. This is undoubtedly is a Dom Pérignon that will keep on giving. 95 points with potential for 97.

Amazingly, obviously, Dom P on the nose – the powerful lemon-mousse nose came soaring out of the glass long before my nose got anywhere near it. Massive intensity of complex aroma hints that this might be a little blowsy on the palate but not a bit of it. It's really tense and tight on the palate and has a certain fumey smokiness to the very concentrated palate. But its most marked feature is the persistence of the finish. This, along with the concentration, makes me confident we will be seeing this in a P2 version, even though 15% of the potential Pinot Noir was left on the ground. Definitely not a weak vintage of Dom P.