vintage 2010
A BOLD WAGER
Dom Pérignon Vintage 2010 was a bold wager, the fruit of an unwavering commitment to expressing nature, coupled with the freedom that makes audacious endeavors possible. Dom Pérignon Vintage 2010 is a wager that has been won thanks to inspiration and to the mastery that comes from experience.
The passage of time has revealed the grandeur of this vintage of which Dom Pérignon is among the very few to bear witness.
PURSUING THE IDEAL
This ideal is not something to be contemplated, it is something to be achieved. It demands active forces to bring the creative process to its culmination. In 2004, it took humility to attend to the harmony of nature. In 2003, there was the risk of the unknown. And revisiting classicism in 2008 was nothing short of insolent... Dom Pérignon Vintage 2010 is the fruit of intuition and mastery, a mastery nurtured by experience, passed on and reproduced.
THE SEASONS
With the lowest temperatures since 1996, the first part of the year contrasted with the entire decade. Winter frosts and a cool spring were reminders of the vineyard’s northerly latitude. The summer was hot, but not excessively so, and infrequent rain confirmed a particularly dry year.
Suddenly, in mid-August, everything changed. The equivalent of two months of rain fell in just two days. With the heat and the water, maturation was fast and generous, but the harvest began with botrytis mold attacking the pinot noir grapes.
As in 1995, the grapes had an elevated balance, at the same time sweet and acidic, but some parcels had to be left out and others sorted in order to bring out the best in a vintage rich in contrasts.
THE NOSE
The luminous sweetness of tropical fruit – green mango, melon, pineapple – instantly shines. It then cedes to more temperate notes, the tingle of orange zest, the mist of a mandarin orange.
The wine breathes, revealing its freshness. The bloom after the rain. A tactile sensation of peony, jasmine and lilac.
THE PALATE
The wine immediately imposes its ample presence, full and massive. A sappy sensation dominates as the tactile is rapidly overtaken by the aromatic. The body unfolds : generous, firm and controlled. Then it contracts, letting the wine vibrate with spices and pepper.
The energy is sustained to a scintillating, saline finish.
—Vincent Chaperon, Chef de Cave, August 2019
