Brut Champagne 2012
Dom Pérignon
Region: Champagne, France
Size: 750 ml
Alcohol: 12.5%
Grapes: Chardonnay & Pinot Noir
Enjoy at 8-12°C
Dom Pérignon is vintage champagne only. Each vintage is a creation, singular and unique, that expresses both the character of the year, and the character of Dom Pérignon. After at least eight years of elaboration in the cellars, the wine embodies the perfect balance of Dom Pérignon, the Plénitude of harmony.
Ratings:
The 2010 Dom Perignon is going to surprise you. I really like how the Champagne shows such a drinkability already yet it remains precise, solid and dry on the palate. The tropical fruits are there in the glass like you expect from DP, such as pineapple, white peach, and mango, not to mention the pie crust and bread dough. Yet it’s linear and finely textured with a brightness and vividness. (July 2020)
I found the 2010 much more balanced and drinkable with the acidity and density of fruit more in harmony than the 2008. The latter is also much more intense and powerful, with some restraint. Meanwhile the 2010 shows an integration and layered-ness with the acidity and phenolics in the wine balancing out the fruit and yeast character.
Rober Parker's Wine Advocate: 92pts
"The 2010 Dom Pérignon is already expressive, wafting from the glass with aromas of crisp green apple, peach, iodine, freshly baked bread, orange oil and smoke. Medium to full-bodied, pillowy and charming, it’s soft and round, with ripe acids, a moderately concentrated core of fruit and a pearly mousse, concluding with a saline finish. Open-knit and pretty, this is a giving Dom Pérignon that readers might think of as reminiscent of a less reductive version of the 2000 vintage."
Tasting Notes
On 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.
On 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.
About the 2010 Vintage
Winter was rigorous, spring dry and late. After a particularly sunny decade, such freshness was surprising. Summer was hot, but not excessively so. Then, two days of diluvian rain brought this ideal trajectory to a halt. In just a few days, botrytis mold developed on the grapes, mainly on the pinot noir.
This triggered a race against the clock. The grapes were not yet fully mature, but a decision had to be made quickly. Dom Pérignon deployed its full resources to trace a precise map delimiting the maturity and health of each parcel in its vineyards. Every minute counted.
This expert vision of the situation gave the possibility of saving excellent plots of pinot noir grapes. The challenge was met, Dom Pérignon declared a vintage quite literally “saved from the waters”: Dom Pérignon Vintage 2010, fruit of intuition and mastery.
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