Dom Perignon Champagne Brut 2012 - 30 Second Wine Review - SaratogaWine.com

Hey everybody, it's Josh, owner of SaratogaWine.com, and I'm here again with you for another 30 Second Wine Review. Today we're doing an exceptional bottling of the 2012 Dom Perignon from Champagne, France. I'm gonna be in a lot of trouble when my wife finds out I tasted this without her. Great wine. Better prices. Delivered right to your door. SaratogaWine.com. So let's talk a little bit about the history of this amazing bottle. So Dom Perignon is the Tête de Cuvée from Boé and Chandon. And it's actually named after a 17th century monk who really kind of invented the blending techniques that Champagne uses even to this day to make world-class Champagnes. Now for many people, Dom Perignon is the quintessential or the benchmark or synonymous with Champagne. If you say Champagne or you see it in movies, oftentimes it's Dom Perignon. But they're not just a pretty face. This is a benchmark producer. Now they're so particular that they've only released 44 vintages of this brute, this Dom Perignon Tête de Cuvée, since the 1920s. Only 44 vintages have been released. So they're very particular about what they release to the market. Every vintage of Dom, just like really good quality wines everywhere in the world, are unique by the vintage. Now this 2012 has some really, really good aromas of almost a powerful smoky characteristic, which is an element you might find in some top-flight Rieslings from Germany. But also on the nose, you're getting some intense citrus. You get some baked orchard fruits. You're also seeing a little bit of a subtle herbal or anise characteristic on the nose. This is an incredibly rich Champagne on the palate. It's got baked red apple, grapefruit, lime, and pear flavors, but it's got this really beautiful layered texture to it with some real vibrant acidity, some buttery yeast, some chalky minerality. All of those things just give this an amazing mouthfeel as you're drinking this wine. This is one of the most powerful Doms I've had in a long time. The tough early goings of the season made this a tough season overall, and it really pared back the crop. But what you get from that is an intensity in the berries from such a limited production, and that shines through, and while you have lower production, you get a much better quality product. To me, this screams for buttered lobster, and most Champagnes that I drink scream for buttered lobster, because I love buttered lobster. But if you're gonna do something else, kind of a standard that goes with Champagnes is oysters. But for this particular one, you'd need something like a Kumamoto oyster to really pair with that, to make that pairing perfect, because it needs something that'll stand up to the richness of this bottle. There's a reason Dom Perignon is one of the most well-known Champagnes in the world. Oftentimes, the product doesn't match the hype when you hear about something so often, but that's never the case with Dom Perignon. And the 2012 here breaks the mold, even for Dom Perignon's already high standards. It's an outstanding, although not completely traditional vintage, and I highly recommend trying it.