Dom Pérignon 2017 Cuvée
Dom Pérignon 2017 Cuvée
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2017 nearly didn't happen. Spring frost cut the crop before the season had properly started, a warm dry midsummer concentrated what survived, and then the rain arrived at exactly the wrong moment and put the harvest under real pressure. Dom Pérignon declared it anyway, and the result is the smallest blend the house has ever assembled — something like 15% of a normal year, two or three months of sales and then it is gone.
The other thing worth knowing: this is the most Chardonnay-dominant Dom Pérignon since 1970, at roughly 60%. Vincent Chaperon bottles a vintage where he can, treating each one as a record of the year rather than a product to be smoothed out, and that decision is legible in the glass.
What you get is a wine pulling in two directions at once. The warm middle of the season shows up as ripe citrus, white peach and orchard fruit, with brioche and toasted hazelnut coming through as it opens. The difficult end of the season left firm acidity and a wiry, almost saline mineral line running underneath. Neither half wins. That tension is the point, and it is why this will reward another decade in a cool cellar.
Pale gold, fine bead, a finish that goes on longer than the mid-palate weight leads you to expect. At £189.99, in a vintage this scarce, it is a fair price for a wine that documents a hard year honestly.
How to Serve
8–10°C — cold, not fridge-cold — and a white-wine glass rather than a flute. The Chardonnay aromatics need room. Let it warm a couple of degrees in the glass and the toast and hazelnut arrive.
Where to Drink It
The River Cafe, where a Chardonnay-led Champagne and a plate of grilled langoustines need no further explanation. Brat in Shoreditch for the wood smoke against that saline edge. The Connaught Bar if the Champagne is the occasion rather than the accompaniment.
Food Pairings
Scallops, seared hard on one side and barely cooked through. The sweetness in the scallop meets the ripe citrus and the acidity resets your palate between each one. Turbot, brill or a good piece of halibut all work on the same logic.
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Editors Notes
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