Why Dom Perignon is King of the Hill
The prestige champagne Dom Perignon is produced by Moet Chandon. This is the top of the line in its field. It is, quite frankly, one of the best wines available to the consumer and has a price tag that reflects this. The name Dom Perignon comes from a Benedictine monk who played a vital role in developing the quality of the champagne, but did not actually discover the champagne production method, contrary to popular belief. Dom Perignon was first produced in 1921 however, it was not until 1936, fifteen years later, that it was released to the market. With Dom Perignon being a vintage champagne it is only produced during the best growing years. This means that it is very unlikely that a batch is produced every year, it is usually only produced every few years when the crop has had a good growing season. Vintage champagne requires all grapes used in production to be from the same year. Many champagnes, by contrast, are non-vintage, which means that the champagne is made from grapes harvested in various years and as such mixes grapes from good and not so good years. The is one of the main contributing factors to the quality and why Dom Perignon is held in such high esteem. On average about 5 million bottles of Dom Perignon are produced with each vintage. The champagne is made from a combination of Chardonnay (55%) and Pinot Noir (45%). As of 2009, the current release of Dom Perignon is from the 2000 vintage and the current release of Dom Perignon Rose is from the 1998 vintage. All vintages need around 12 months of aging before they reach that trademark silky feel and only continue to improve with age. Appointed in 1998, winemaker Richard Geoffroy continues to lead the production of Dom Perignon. Being a world famous Champagne, Dom Perignon is distributed worldwide through Moet Chandon , from the local regions of France all the way down to Australia. |
