Wine Advisor
Dom Perignon, Brut Vintage 1985
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Greeny gold hue. An aromatic, almost herbaceous nose with greengage and honeysuckle - very complex. Palate is rich and fresh with notes of grass, apple and honey. This is a big, flamboyant champagne. Very long although the 1990 has a bit more style in my humble opinion. Tasted May 2002.
Reviewed by: William Kelley
Drunk from a pristinely preserved original disgorgement, the 1985 Dom Pérignon is inviting and exuberant, bursting with aromas of apples, pears, buttered toast, orange oil, tarte tatin and smoke. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, ample and pillowy, with a generous core of fruit, ripe but racy acids and a refined mousse. This bottle ranked a step behind a sublime magnum of this cuvée's P3 rendition that I enjoyed earlier in the year, but it was nonetheless an exquisite Champagne. In both cases, the 1985 is in its prime, so now is a great time to open bottles.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
No tasting note.
About the Producer
Dom Pérignon has always stuck to its founder's vision: always excellent yet always improving. Each vintage is made through delicate assemblage and adjustment, resulting in the mysterious blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes. It isn’t specifically what Dom Perignon created in his forty seven years as the cellar master at the Abbey of Hautvillers, it is the innovations and enhancements that he discovered. At this time in history, sparkling was thought of as faulty wine and was quite dangerous as refermenting in bottle caused explosions. Dom Perignon resolved to sparkling wine tastier and safer. He pioneered the mixing of base wines from specific vineyards to enhance the style. So he hand-picked the fruit to ferment by blind tasting the grapes to assess them strictly on their flavour and the way they might style once blended with alternative grapes he had access too. This was a serious departure from the quality wine creating techniques of the day. He additionally pioneered the pressing of red grapes and straightaway fermenting the juice to create white wines from red grapes. With regards to safety, he introduced the utilization of thicker glass bottles able to withstand the pressures of sparkling wines and used Spanish corks rather than wood to seal the bottles. These corks were traditionally tied to the bottlenecks with Hemp string, a forerunner of today's wire metal cages. Many celebrities enjoy success with Dom Pérignon. In 1995, rapper Little Shawn, protégé of Diddy at that time, dedicated a whole song to the champagne brand. The music video also featured a cameo appearance of late rap star Notorious B.I.G. drinking Dom Pérignon. To put it short: A bottle of 'Dom P' stands for success!
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