Dom Perignon lunch @ Aria

How do you spell floozy? Even if I can’t spell it, apparently I am one, or so I’m told. Sitting next to me Amanda Yallop, a sommelier at Sydney’s world class Quay restaurant, tells me that drinking Dom Pérignon is fun and frivolous (and that even if the term is not very flattering – we are Champagne floozies). It’s still unusual to be a women, in her profession. So she’s pleased (as am I) that we – two Champagne floozies – are seated together. My end of the table includes a number of other sommeliers from Sydney’s top restaurants – John Clancy from Guillaume at Bennelong, Greg Plowes from Tetsuya’s and Tristan Habeck from est. Even with my serious addiction, to the ultimate bubbles, I feel seriously inadequate within this prestigious sommelier company. This lot are high end, and get to taste Champagne for a living.

The reason for our celebration – with a lunch that has been especially created by Chef Matt Moran at Aria – is the visit of Dom Pérignon Oenologist, Vincent Chaperon. By now we’ve tasted the latest 2002 release. (I’m sure you know that Dom Pérignon is a vintage only Champagne – right?) But then we uncover our true mission, to discover the beauty of how the ’96 Oenethique is unfolding. (Dom Perignon Oenotheque are vintages that are kept in the Moët & Chandon cellars in a special conservation area known as the oenotheque. They are released only when the chef de cave believes them ready.)  It’s blossomed. It’s beautiful drinking right now, with contradictions in harmony, depth, balance, and complexity. Our host, Chaperon says that the ’96 vintage is “very opposed, a very atypical vintage” and like no other. Needless to say Dom Pérignon also finished the day matching dessert, with the beautiful Rosé vintage 1998.

Chaperon loves to talk about his passion for Dom Pérignon, “Behind the words are ideas. If you manage to put them to music in the right way, you can realize the goal you have imagined and desired.” An informed connoisseur of this alliance, he adds: “œnology is a blend of empiricism and science, technique and art.”

Chaperon explained the difference between maturing and ageing. Two totally different processes we were told. I think of parallels, in life and the differences between the two life processes, and must remember these words of wisdom.

Before I give you some official tasting notes, let me share with you the words of wisdom of fellow blogger Andrew Graham of www.ozwinereview.com

“The 1996 Dom Perignon Oenotheque is an absolute brute of a Champagne, hugely proportioned with massive acidity and no shortage of power. What I like about all of this intensity though is that it never feels heavy, rather it’s still a long, detailed, cleverly lees influenced wine for the ages. As someone on my table suggested it was like a ‘Rugby player with a PhD’ 95/100″

I’m not sure who gave him this rugby analogy. Sport’s really not my thing – so it wouldn’t be me. But I do agree that …

“A highly concentrated vintage, Dom Pérignon 2002 expresses all the power of grapes picked at the peak of their maturity, while going far beyond the character of the year, enhancing its natural richness and – by making it vibrate in undulating waves – lending it extra precision and depth. Dom Pérignon 2002 is a magnetic, still-elusive wine that fully reveals the dual nature of Dom Pérignon,” Richard Geoffroy, Dom Pérignon Chef de Cave.

Entrée
Cured New Zealand salmon with dombu and Earl Grey tea, yuzu tapioca and avocado purée
Dom Pérignon Vintage 2002

Main
Roasted rack of veal with glazed witlof, roasted onions, pumpkin purée and a black truffle sauce
Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1996

Dessert
Champagne jelly with raspberries
Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 1998

Dom Pérignon Vintage 2002

On the nose

The first hints of fresh almond and harvest aromas immediately open up into preserved lemon and dried fruits, the whole rounded off by darker smoky and toasted qualites

On the palate

The presence of the wine on the palate is immediately captivating. Paradoxically concentrated yet creamy, it is energetic and warm in the mouth, focusing on the fruit, then gradually taking on more profound bass notes. The whole holds its note perfectly, intensively, with just a subtle, elegant hint of underlying bitterness.

Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1996

On the nose

Praline rapidly combines with citron and dried figs. Darket underlying iodine and peaty notes also emerge.

On the palate

There is an apparent paradox, with concentration and movement vying for ascendancy. The structure of the wine is tense and assertive. Its energy, almost tactile, is contained for a moment before vibrating and explodying. Its opulence then becomes superbly persistent and trenchant.

Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 1998

On the nose

Initial floral and perfumed notes blossom rapidly, leading to aromas of orange peel and dried fruits which bring to mind the scent of ripe harvests and woody spices.

On the palate
The wine reveals a fullness of texture coupled with a remarkably balanced structure that is both sophisticated and clear-cut. This complex richness of aromas, radiating warmth, creates a vibrant finish underlined with the merest hint of astringency.

Aria Restaurant
1 Macquarie Street, Sydney NSW 2Australia
+61 2 9252 2555

There’s more on the 2002 release Dom Pérignon here on Inside Cuisine. And you can clink it by the glass in Melbourne at Jacques Reymond.