In a year characterized by alternating weather extremes, mat Dom Pérignon by Vintage 2013 rediscover their great experience for Champagne produced from grapes harvested very late. This exception - coming in the middle of two decades of early harvests, interrupted only by the 2004 vintage - brings into focus one of the fundamental aspects of the creative act at Dom Pérignon, namely taking ripening time into account in the pursuit of harmony.
The vision of Chef de Cave and his expertise in integrating the specific elements of each year led him to foresee the effects that the work of the time would have. And now after about ten years of maturation on the yeast residues, the experience reveals Dom Pérignon Vintage 2013, called the elegance of clarity.
Dom Pérignon's creative ambition is an eternal search for captivating harmony, a search pursued by aesthetic and sensory values: precision, intensity, sensation, minerality, complexity, completeness and a characteristic way of highlighting notes.
Every creative process has its limitations. For Dom Pérignon, this always means a commitment to highlight the grapes of a single year, regardless of the challenges, even going so far as not to make a vintage.
Time is part of the Dom Pérignon equation. The time for maturation on the yeast remains in the darkness of the cellars, so that each vintage can reveal itself. For Dom Pérignon Vintage 2013 this slow transformation required almost ten years.
A LATE VINTAGE
In early 2013, the vineyards were subjected to a cold, wet winter, followed by a particularly rainy spring. The vines were two weeks behind from the very beginning of the plant's life cycle and did not manage to catch up. The buds appeared late and the vines did not flower until the end of July, which interfered with the formation of clusters of grapes.
These long months of excess rain were followed by one of the hottest and driest summers in the last two decades, which in turn hampered the vines' photosynthesis. Then September brought more heavy rainfall, followed by easterly winds that miraculously kept the grapes healthy until they were picked. The harvest began on September 28 and lasted until October 15. The taste of the grapes revealed a promising balance between a good full flavor thanks to the summer weather and an acidity typical of late autumn vintages.
Precision between Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
The result of the two opposite poles of high rainfall with a period of drought in between varied according to the specific terroir, where most of the vineyards benefit from calcareous soils that act as a buffer for the water and Dom Pérignon's Grands Cru's and Premiers Cru's vineyards were spared .
The Chardonnay grapes come from the Côte des Blancs and thus revealed their full splendor and expressed the pure elegance that characterizes this grape.
More restrained was the Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims, with a precise acidity and a distinct firmness that contributes a gentle roundness.
Vintage 2013 thus highlights the double dimension of Dom Pérignon's creative efforts. The first is to bring together the complementary and opposing aspects of 2013, namely fullness and acidity. Here lies the creative element that lifts the balance between the different flavors. Creating these contrasts is what precisely shows the perspective for the 2013 vintage.
