Truffled eggs and holograms: Dom Perignon launches 2003 vintage

Dom Perignon launched the 2003 vintage last night in London – and simultaneously in Paris, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

The tasting took place at art dealers Philips de Pury in Westminster, where a dimly lit industrial space was decorated with a Twitter display on the wall – constantly updated as guests tweeted that they were there – and a slide show of atmospheric shots of Hautvilliers, the village outside Epernay that is the home of Dom Perignon.

There were live videos of the other four venues: New Yorkers were having breakfast, while in London journalists and guests of Dom Perignon were served caviar on beetroot jelly, hot foie gras, saffron risotto and truffled eggs.

Dom Perignon chef de cave Richard Geoffroy appeared as a miniature hologram from Paris to answer questions – although there were some he chose not to answer.

Asked about dosage he said, ‘I’m not going to get into the business of grams per litre’ – the answer in fact is 6g/l, as he told another journalist last month.

Geoffroy confirmed 2003 was a difficult vintage, and that ‘it was a challenge to make it Dom Perignon – to find the Dom Perignon style, but there was never the slightest doubt that we would produce a vintage that year.’

‘It’s a balance between the typicity of Dom Perignon and that of the year,’ he said. ‘There’s more Pinot Noir, maybe, within the perfect balance of DP’ (the 2003 is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay).

As to what the next vintage will be, Geoffroy would not be drawn on whether it would be the 2004.

Written by Margaret Rand