Wine Advisor
Dom Perignon, Brut Rose 2009
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: William Kelley
The 2009 Dom Pérignon is already drinking well, exhibiting expressive aromas of ripe apple, peach, Meyer lemon, marzipan and dried white flowers that are framed by the classic nutty, autolytic notes that so often define this cuvée. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, rich and fleshy, with a broad attack, a brisk and refined mousse, appreciable dry extract and a notably saline finish. While this is a comparatively ample, gourmand vintage of Dom Pérignon, there's sufficient concentration and structural tension—which has become more apparent with a bit of bottle age—to suggest that this may be surprisingly long lived.
Reviewed by: William Kelley
Aromas of fresh brioche, green pear, waxy citrus rind, iodine and subtly autolytic top notes mingle in an inviting bouquet, introducing the 2009 Dom Pérignon. It's a medium to full-bodied, broad and fleshy wine that's rich and textural, with good concentration and lively acids despite being the ripest rendition in the history of this cuvée. As I wrote earlier this year, while the wine is open and enveloping, there's also enough energy and structure here to promise good mid-term aging potential, something that becomes more apparent as the wine loses a little puppy fat.
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!
