Dom Perignon Vintage 2004

The wine in this vintage

Long underrated, 2004 is a classic Champagne vintage: an even summer, a generous harvest and a bright end to the season produced healthy grapes with lively acidity and measured ripeness. Dom Pérignon Vintage 2004 mirrors that character with a lean, chiselled profile, more vertical than opulent, where Chardonnay brings citrus and chalky notes and Pinot Noir adds crisp white fruit. With time, toasted almond, brioche and the subtle smokiness typical of the house come forward. Wine Spectator scored it 95. It is still in a relatively closed phase today and rewards patience, as its acid backbone points to a long and graceful evolution in the cellar.

The producer · Dom Perignon

Dom Pérignon takes its name from Pierre Pérignon, the Benedictine cellar master of the Abbey of Hautvillers in the late seventeenth century, whom tradition regards as the spiritual father of Champagne for his pioneering approach to blending. The house, closely tied to Moët & Chandon and now part of LVMH, released its first vintage, the 1921, in 1936, effectively inventing the prestige cuvée. Dom Pérignon is made only as a vintage wine, and only in years judged worthy, from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir drawn from the finest crus of the region, with Hautvillers as its symbolic home. The style pursues a constant tension between the two grapes, between power and precision, with a mineral, toasty signature that unfolds slowly over years. Alongside the Vintage, the house releases a Rosé and the Plénitudes, later releases of the same vintage after far longer ageing on the lees, which show how the wine transforms with time. Few names embody the very idea of great Champagne so completely.

Critics' scores

• 95 Wine Spectator
• 17.5/20 Jancis Robinson

Technical details

Producer

Dom Perignon

Region

Champagne

Country

Francia

Type

Bollicine

Vintage

2004

When to drink

Not yet at its peak

Critics' average

95/100

Sizes

75 cl, Magnum 150 cl, Case of 6 × 75 cl

eWibe code

0420104