2003 Champagne Dom Pérignon, P2, Brut

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Description

This is the result of nearly 15 years of cellar ageing. With this time comes an added power that doesn’t feature in standard vintage Dom Pérignon. The nose has beautiful ripe orchard fruit, honeysuckle and freshly baked pastry. The palate is as rich as one would expect from Plénitude 2 in this hot vintage. But the balance of a creamy acidity and flint-like minerality give the wine a lively balance. There are layers of marzipan and candied pineapple, apricot compote, warm breakfast pastry and liquorice. A wonderful salinity rounds out this remarkable wine. I thoroughly enjoyed this recently, but I dream of how well it will develop over 8-10 years in the cellar.

Drink now to 2040.

Paul Keating, Private Account Manager (June 2021)

Colour White

Sweetness Dry

Vintage 2003

Maturity Ready - at best (2012 - 2039)

Body Full Bodied

Producer Dom Pérignon

Critics reviews

William Kelley 94/100

The 2003 Dom Pérignon P2 is rich and demonstrative, wafting from the glass with aromas of stone fruits, honeycomb and buttered toast that leave more space for the wine's generous fruit tones than the more overtly yeasty original disgorgement. Full-bodied, broad and textural, it remains very youthful despite its below-average acidity, with notable precision to its ripe fruit tones and chalky structuring extract that provides, to some extent, a compensating sensation of freshness; it's actually evolving more slowly than its 2002 counterpart. Given the wine's richness, it works best with food. Chaperon relates that then-Chef de Caves Richard Geoffroy rejected any musts with a pH exceeding 3.3, the only time this metric has been used as a basis for selection for Dom Pérignon, and that the juice was allowed to oxidize before vinification. I'm looking forward to seeing the 2003 in its P3 incarnation, as I suspect that the wine will really come into its own when it develops more tertiary notes.Drink 2021 - 2045William Kelley, Wine Advocate (Sep 2021)

Drink 2021 - 2045

William Kelley, RobertParker.com (Sep 2021)

Yohan Castaing 96/100

The bouquet of 2003 P2 is striking for its diverse range of complex scents. Succulent and exuberant aromas of white fruit such as pear and peach but also of mirabelle plum have an underlying olfactive counterpoint reminiscent of a salty sea breeze, which imparts an oceanic as well as an earthy dimension enhanced by notes of flint, smoke, and verbena. On the palate, there is impressive density and a seemingly tannic sensation that provides structure to the fleshy mouthfeel, while sneaky acidity and bewitching bitterness provide a flourish to the long finish. Time has proven to be a valuable ally indeed for this massive yet harmonious Dom Pérignon, one of its kind.Drink 2021 - 2040Yohan Castaing, Decanter.com (May 2021)

Drink 2021 - 2045

Yohan Castaing, Decanter.com (May 2021)

Jancis Robinson MW 18/20

The notoriously daring vintage of Dom Pérignon at 18 years old in recently disgorged form. Rich, broad nose, with notes of candied mandarin - not instantly recognizable as Dom P on the nose. Toasty palate entry and still quite rich on the palate, thanks to lower than usual acidity presumably. Again, there was no fear of phenolics when making this wine as the logic was that the phenolics would make up for the softness of the acidity. This is now a gentle wine with very much its own personality. Soft and smoky at the start and then saline and refreshing on the finish. It's more like a bit of told-you-so evidence than necessarily, the one Dom P you would choose from the current range available. But, boy, does it persist! Drink 2021 – 2027. jancis_robinson_mw MW

Drink 2021 - 2045

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com

James Suckling 98/100

This is a very thick, dense Dom Pérignon with layers of ripe fruit. Dried apple, pineapple and pie crust with some nougat undertones. Dense and layered with chewy tannins and a juicy finish. Umami undertone. This has the highest percentage of Pinot Noir ever. 15 years on the lees in bottle. 62% Pinot Noir and 38% Chardonnay. Drink or hold. james_suckling, jamessuckling_com

Drink 2021 - 2045

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com

About this wine

Dom Perignon

Dom Pérignon was the 17th century Benedictine monk who has gone down in history as the person who "invented" Champagne. His name was originally registered by Eugène Mercier. He sold the brand name to Moët & Chandon, which used it as the name for its prestige cuvée, which was first released in 1937. A rigorous selection process in both the vineyard and winery ensures that only the best grapes go into Dom Pérignon champagne. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are used in roughly equal proportions without one variety dominating the other. In its youth, Dom Pérignon shows incredibly smooth, creamy fruit with perfect balance and weight. As it ages, it takes on wonderfully toasty aromas and a finesse equalled by very few of the other Grandes Marques. Since 2014 Dom Pérignon has no longer been using the term oenothèque for its late-release Champagnes, but the word Plenitude. This style represents Dom Pérignon champagne that is left in contact with its lees and does not evolve in a linear fashion, but ages in a series of stages, producing “windows of opportunity, or plenitudes” when the Champagne can be disgorged and released to bring consumers a different expression of the same vintage. There are three plenitudes in the life of a given vintage: the first plenitude spans between seven to eight years after the vintage, which is when Dom Pérignon Vintage is released, while the second one arrives between 12 and 15 years – which was previously the first oenothèque release, but from now will be branded as P2. The third window comes after around 30 years, when the Champagne has spent more than 20 years on its lees, which will now be termed as P3.

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Champagne

In 1668, Dom Pérignon is said to have discovered how to make sparkling wine; today his technique is used the world over, although Champagne continues to make some of the finest. France’s most northerly wine region, Champagne is now home to 15,000 growers and 290 ‘houses’. A blend of grape varieties is usually required: white Chardonnay to add fruit and elegance, and two reds – Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier – to provide body and backbone.

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