2002 Dom Perignon

Anything but Port, this includes all wines other than fortified wines (which have their own section) even if they call themselves Port. There is a search facility for this part of the forum.
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Anything but Port, this includes all non-Port fortified wines even if they call themselves Port. There is a search facility for this part of the forum.
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LGTrotter
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Joined: 17:45 Fri 19 Oct 2012
Location: Somerset, UK

2002 Dom Perignon

Post by LGTrotter »

From half a case bought at Waitrose when they had one of their deals on. Opened to celebrate Tuesday, this is the second, the first being drunk when it was barely ten years old. I remember the previous bottle as being hard, green with a bitter finish and half way to being flat.

What a terrific transformation. Less obviously vinous than previously, it has a sense of wineyness (apologies for this word) at the front of the palate and a clean taste at the finish. A little hay on the nose, just beautiful top to bottom of the bottle. A little honey haze and dazzle about it, suggestive of the ageing process. Oddly it is less flat, with a very fine mousse.

Jancis raved about this wine, how right she was. I too am enslaved to this and feel vindicated as Emma initially dismissed this and I had hope for the future.

It is one of the best bottles of champagne I have drunk and quite unique. As to a score it must be 96ish even now, but as I am a little drunk I shall return to Hagakure;

"According to what one of the elders said, taking an enemy on the battlefield is like a hawk taking a bird. Even though it enters into the midst of a thousand of them, it gives no attention to any bird than the one it first marked."
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AW77
Morgan 1991
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Re: 2002 Dom Perignon

Post by AW77 »

Owen, I'm glad you're having a good time. :)
The Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt know thy Port
LGTrotter
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
Posts: 3707
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Re: 2002 Dom Perignon

Post by LGTrotter »

Thank you Andre, opened on a whim because it was such a beautiful day. This bottle made it even more so.
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AW77
Morgan 1991
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Re: 2002 Dom Perignon

Post by AW77 »

This sounds like a case of spring fever. Did you also take a smell at the budding flowers in your garden?
The Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt know thy Port
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Alex Bridgeman
Graham’s 1948
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Re: 2002 Dom Perignon

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

AW77 wrote:This sounds like a case of spring fever. Did you also take a smell at the budding flowers in your garden?
That's a dangerous thing to do when you've drunk a bottle of Dom - too easy to overbalance and land on your face in the daffodils with no-one to help you up since they are all laughing too much.

Still, good to hear positive things about the 2002. I have a six-pack tucked away in storage awaiting its call once the last remaining bottle or two of the 1996 has gone. Dom gets dissed by the Champagne afficianados as being too commercial, made in too great a volume, but it's EAB's favourite champers (with Moet being her preferred NV) and I rather like it too.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
LGTrotter
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
Posts: 3707
Joined: 17:45 Fri 19 Oct 2012
Location: Somerset, UK

Re: 2002 Dom Perignon

Post by LGTrotter »

There is no harm in keeping your 2002 in storage for a few more years, I neglected to mention that it still has a touch of hardness about it which suggests to me it will get better. And my champagne is less than ideally stored so a well cellared case should be a few steps behind this bottle.

While the affection for Dom needs no explanation I can't help but be concerned about the NV Moët, more than a touch of gooseberry cider to that one. Emma is currently teetering between Bollinger and Pol as favourite, either way it is good to be able to share a bottle we both enjoy, as she has no liking for port. But a decent old madeira we can agree on.
Andy Velebil
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Re: 2002 Dom Perignon

Post by Andy Velebil »

AHB wrote:
AW77 wrote:This sounds like a case of spring fever. Did you also take a smell at the budding flowers in your garden?
That's a dangerous thing to do when you've drunk a bottle of Dom - too easy to overbalance and land on your face in the daffodils with no-one to help you up since they are all laughing too much.

Still, good to hear positive things about the 2002. I have a six-pack tucked away in storage awaiting its call once the last remaining bottle or two of the 1996 has gone. Dom gets dissed by the Champagne afficianados as being too commercial, made in too great a volume, but it's EAB's favourite champers (with Moet being her preferred NV) and I rather like it too.
DO I think Dom is way overpriced considering they make millions of bottles of it, totally. Is it a very good bubbly that I buy and enjoy, you betcha. (well not so much lately as the price has really gone up for some reason. Hopefully the weak Euro helps bring it back down).
LGTrotter
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Re: 2002 Dom Perignon

Post by LGTrotter »

I think I paid about £65 a bottle for this, which when I consider that vintage Bollinger is about this price regular retail doesn't seem too bad. I find that odd prestige champagnes turn up from time to time at good prices and I tend to wait for the bargains and buy them. It is how I discovered Taittinger Comtes de Champagne which is superb in some vintages.

I don't think that any of the prestige cuvée wines ever give total production figures and I assume they make similar (large) quantities of Cristal, Sir Winston Churchill, et al. And neither of those mentioned I would say are better wines than the Dom.

I hear a good deal mentioned about the weak euro having a positive influence on American wine buyers but I am not sure it means that prices drop too much, rather the importers margins improve.
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