For the first time, Les Enfants du Champagne abandoned the starred restaurants for this event and preferred an evening “pied dans l’eau” at the “Il Rogiolo” restaurant, owned by Paolo and Beatrice Beltramini, a typically Livorno couple for their hospitality, friendliness and spontaneity. The restaurant is located on the Livorno coast, in Quercianella.
The restaurant staff is young, motivated, smiling and friendly. The property has a small beach with crystal clear sea water. The restaurant also has a large terrace which obviously overlooks the sea. But the gem is that there is also a small terrace, facing the sea, which is for the exclusive use of Beatrice, who allowed us to use it for our dinner dedicated to the top of the range Dom Perignon champagne.Paolo ci ha organizzato una serata perfetta con un sommelier professionista che ci ha coccolati per tutta la sera.
At the beginning, with some appetizers, we drank a magnum of Perrier Jouet blanc de blancs, non-vintage, in the magnum version, which was amazing.
Present at the evening were Leo Damiani, Vincenzo Tardini (substitute child), Valerio Mearini, Orazio Vagnozzi and myself. Unfortunately, Roberto Schneuwly and Stefano Azzolari were absent.
We were all happy to be together with our friend Paolo Beltramini who, together with Beatrice, despite the fact that their restaurant was full of guests, kept us company during our fish-based tasting dinner. For each champagne we were served a different course of food that perfectly matched the nectar we were drinking. Some of us slept at the Grand Hotel Palazzo in Livorno, in front of the famous “Terrazza Mascagni”, on Viale Italia, the pride of the Livorno people. The next day Valerio, Orazio and I returned to Paolo and Beatrice to take a bath and have lunch with some champagne brought by Valerio and me. While I was sunbathing on a lounger, after having taken a refreshing bath, I heard someone call me, I turned around and to my great surprise I saw two dear friends, Susanna and Sergio Tofani, who were curious about what I had told them about the establishment seaside resort – restaurant “Il Rogiolo” they had come there to spend a relaxing day.
We had an aperitif together and shared the champagnes we had brought during lunch.
But let’s go back to the evening before, to this evening dedicated to “Dom Perignon”. The service of the champagnes was blindfolded, that is, we did not know the order of service and the bottles were wrapped in aluminum foil, with the exception of the magnum of Perrier Jouet blanc de Blancs, which was not the subject of the group’s evaluation, but only mine
PERRIER JOUET
Blanc de Blanc, non-vintage in magnum format.
Light golden yellow color with numerous fine bubbles.
Numerous aromas rise from the glass, among which the following stand out: lemon, Marseille soap, flint, white pepper, natural tea, iodine, salted grilled almond, sea water (white internal part of the watermelon peel and white melon), hard lemon candy, finishing with puffs of chalk.
On the palate it has fine bubbles, and is savory, mineral with a flavor of lemon and lemon zest.
The body is medium and the wine is well balanced with strong acidity which, together with the minerality, completely dominates the alcoholic mass. Its persistence is long with a finish of acacia honey and the white part of the internal peel of the yellow grapefruit.
Amazing bottle!
(93/100)
DOM PERIGNON
VINTAGE 2004 PLENITUDE 2
It shines golden yellow and has numerous fine bubbles.
Rich and varied nose with aromas of lemon, fresh blond leather, lemon tea, peanut butter, almond shell, iodine, sweet from the outside of the dragee, flint, vanilla and star anise. The olfactory journey ends with hints of white flowers.
On the palate there is a medium body.
The bubbles are fine and quite delicate.
Flavors of lemon, toasted wood and popcorn.
Well balanced wine with the alcoholic mass silenced by freshness and acidity.
Its taste persistence is long with a lemon and wood finish.
(93/100)
DOM PERIGNON
VINTAGE 2003 PLENITUDE 2
Shiny golden yellow color with very fine and numerous bubbles.
Olfactory mix made of intense aromas of vanilla followed by flint, almond shell honey, sweets from the outside of the sugared almond, natural tea and white flowers.
When tasted it reveals a medium body, fine bubbles and a good balance between alcohol and freshness. Its flavor persistence is long but not very long with a slightly bitter finish. I remember that when the normal 2003 came out on the market, I was quite disappointed by its lack of persistence.
(92/100)
DOM PERIGNON
VINTAGE 2002 PLENITUDE 2
Shiny straw-gold yellow shines through.
From the glass rise aromas of amber, peanut, vanilla, sweets from the outside of the dragee, blond leather, iodine, flint, lemon tea, sea water (white melon), ripe banana and a good taste balance,
in fact freshness and minerality dominate the alcoholic mass. Savory and mineral wine with long, intense aromatic persistence.
Final with flavors of lemon.
(94/100)
DOM PERIGNON
VINTAGE 1998
Shiny golden yellow color with numerous fine bubbles.
The olfactory treasure chest diffuses intense aromas of ripe banana followed by iodine, flint, white pepper, incense, cooked apples with cinnamon and cloves to finish with caresses of almond paste.
The body is medium and the bubbles are fine.
Well balanced wine thanks also to the generous freshness.
Cooked apple flavour. Its taste persistence is long.
The 1998 P2 has another gear, I remember giving it 100/100.
I found this 98 very mature on the nose.
(95/100)
DOM PERIGNON
OENOTHÉQUE 1996
Straw yellow with golden reflections, shiny,
Aromas of white melon, light boisé, champignon mushroom, vanilla, flint and lemon.
On the palate the bubbles are fine and the wine has evident acidity, has a medium body and is savory and mineral.
Perfectly balanced wine with a light boisé flavour, its intense aromatic persistence is long with an intense lemon and light woody finish.
(97/100)
DOM PERIGNON
VINTAGE 1995
Golden yellow color and very fine and numerous bubbles.
On the nose it has aromas of rose water, juniper berry, intense flint and lemon.
Pleasant tasting with fine bubbles.
Perfectly balanced wine with freshness and minerality that completely dominate the alcoholic mass. The body is medium.
Its taste persistence is long with an almond shell finish. (96/100)
DOM PERIGNON
OENOTHÉQUE VINTAGE 1990
Golden yellow coat, almost slightly orange with fine and numerous bubbles.
Rich and varied nose composed of aromas of ripe banana, fairly ripe rennet apple (it reminded me a bit of Calvados), florals, juniper berry, vanilla, rust, honey, rusty pear, finishing with whiffs of champignon mushroom.
Pleasant tasting, the body is medium and the bubbles are fine. Well balanced wine, between alcohol and freshness. Flavor of honey and ripe jujube.
Its intense aromatic persistence is long with a chestnut honey finish.
(95/100)
At the end of this pleasant tasting – dinner, Paolo appeared holding a splendid bottle of Solaia 2015 to which, some time before, I had awarded a well-deserved 100/100.
We were all happy to have spent this exciting evening in the restaurant together in this beautiful setting. “Il Rogiolo”.
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Insights from Valerio Mearini on the different types of Dom Perignon.
Passionate about wine, but above all loving and drinking Champagne, I must admit that for me the most fascinating label of all is that of Dom Perignon, the classic, the first produced, the iconic one that everyone knows, that is, the green one, shield-shaped, with the central writing in italics “Champagne Dom Pérignon Vintage” with a frame of vine leaves and grapes and at the top on the label,clearly visible, written in block capitals, is the name of the brand of the Maison that owns the wine, that is, “Moet Chandon à Epernay- Fondée en 1743”.
The first vintage produced was in 1921, from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes in equal parts, coming from the best vineyards, from the premier and grand crus villages of the entire Champagne area, with six years of refermentation on the yeasts. The year 1936 was that of its first commercialization.
Today the production of Dom Perignon champagne is a vision faithful to the line, a harmony played on aesthetic and sensorial values: precision and intensity.
Its blend is a perfect balance of white and black grapes, percentages ranging from 45 and 55 percent of a single harvest, a Millesimato, a single-year cuvée that matures on its lees for a minimum of 8 years.
The Maison Moet & Chandon, around the end of the last millennium, decided to change the writing positioned at the top of the label to the wording: “Dom Pierre PERIGNON -Hautvillers Apptd-1668”.
Homage from the property to the Monk Dom Pierre, a bold and far-sighted man who made his life a divine choice
“ Producing the best wine in the world “.
Deeply inspired, his vision revolutionized the wine industry, with standards that still remain at the heart of champagne production today. Dom Perignon’s legacy continues to inspire the vision of the Maison.
In fact, it was the 2000 and 2002 vintages that debuted with this wording.
With the 2004 and 2006 vintages the Maison changes the writing at the top again, if only slightly, always keeping the name of the monk clearly in evidence, namely “Dom Perignon Millesime’ “Altum Villare”.
Even today all labels definitively report this wording
In the following years, a new champagne called “Dom Perignon Oenotheque” debuts on the market. The label is always in the shape of a shield, but is dark green in color with a crown of leaves and one in gold.
This creation is the result of an experiment wanted by the chef de cave Richard Geoffroy, a fundamental figure in the production of modern DP, which gives rise to the birth of a wine produced only in exceptional years with a period of time on the yeasts longer than the vintage one, initially speaking of 12/ 15 years of fermentation in the cellar, therefore a wine elevated without haste, until it reaches a vortex of superiority, fullness of tactile expressions. The first to come out was 1990, then 1992 and 1993, also in a rosé version.
In around 2012, a hat-trick of memorable Oenotheque vintages, 1959, 1961 and 1964, were released for a lucky few, with 30/40 years of fermentation in the cellar.
The real turning point in the qualitative history of DP wine and its legendary labels occurred a few years later.
The property, confident in the success of Dom Perignon OEnotheque, puts on the market the famous vintages such as 1995 and 1996, superlative bottles, in fact the labels are different from the previous ones, black with a silver crown, always with the writing Oenotheque, called in French jargon by enthusiasts “deuxieme sortie”, second release. Then again vintages such as DP OEnotheque 69, 70, 71 and 85, produced in very limited quantities, rare to purchase.
I remember seeing one of these bottles in real life, beautiful, Oenotheque 1970, with a dark black shield on a gold vine crown with golden packaging.
The last vintage of Dom Perignon Oenotheque produced was 1998, “ troisieme sortie “
The term “Plenitude” is recent history, it is the confirmation of the quality of fullness, compactness and superiority of a champagne wine that spends so much time in the bottle.
Dom Perignon P2, with a prolonged elevation that achieves increased expression. After 15/18 years in the darkness of the cellar the wine is even more expansive, its internal activity is authentic energy.
The first vintage is the DP P2 1998, then the DP P2 1995 with a light gray label on a black crown, it does not have the writing P2 on the label, but only on the neck of the bottle. The latest versions of Dom Perignon P2 are the 2002, 2003 and 2004 harvests, featuring a dark gray shield on a black crown, with central gold writing.
The P3 shield is of a bewitching beauty, a sculpture of metallic material a few millimeters thick, the entire label is gold in colour.
His wine is so incredibly unique, after 30 years in the cellar aimed at procreating gustatory richness, such that it can be enjoyed by a select few, a pleasure, an emotion whose cost is around €3000.00.
