The launch of Dom Pérignon 2008 Plénitude 2, disgorged a year ago after 15 years on lees, was couched in the idea of cultural collaboration. A two-day installation in the bowels of the Tate Modern showed examples of the brand’s collaboration with artists, its cultural legacy, if you will.
The small installation was open by invitation only, to trade, to media, to important private clients and tried to link the brand’s past, present and future by showing a series of older artefacts, contemporary collaborations and artistic impressions captured around the creation of the 2024 vintage. At Dom Pérignon , of course, every year is a vintage year.
Before any wine was poured, the focus was on the exhibits. I loved the reproduction of an ancient manuscript, and a key document in the history of Dom Pérignon, namely the Treatise on the Cultivation of Vines in Champagne, written and illustrated by Brother Pierre, student and successor of the great cellar master himself, written around 1730.
This was included in the installation, alongside Jeff Koon’s shiny, pink and bulging Balloon Venus created in 2013 as a collaboration to accompany the launch of Dom Pérignon Rosé 2003.
Ian Fleming’s Moonraker featured alongside Truman Capote’s intro to C.Z. Guest’s First Garden and a smiling Marilyn Monroe was snapped with a coupé of DP in 1962.
The most recent collaboration features “seven iconic creators,” namely Zoë Kravitz, Tilda Swinton, Takashi Murakami, Aleksander Ekman, Anderson .Paak [this is the spelling, a full stop before the last name], Iggy Pop and Clare Smyth – all captured in photography and on constant video loops. All is themed around the strapline of “creation is an eternal journey.”
So, what about the wines? The first wine shown was Dom Pérignon 2015, a charmer if ever there was one, a sumptuous wine that has come on beautifully from its first outing that I reported on here. It has solidified, or coalesced rather, into a seamless, smoky, creamy plum richness that is absolutely delicious. Cellar master Vincent Chaperon had chosen as in contrast to the 2008 – a cooler vintage vis-à-vis the warm and dry vintage of 2015.
Turns, out, time still is the magic ingredient. When the 2008 vintage was first launched in 2018, after nine years on lees, notably after the 2009 vintage, I wrote that “there is a promise, too, of future richness.” (click here). This is certainly now evident in the Plénitude 2. It would have been fascinating to taste the original 2008 from the first disgorgement alongside, sadly that was not the case. But it is safe to say that this late-disgorged version is a beauty.
Dom Pérignon 2008 Plénitude 2
Half Pinot Noir, half Chardonnay, dosage 4.5 g/L, disgorged spring 2024.
The nose holds lovely, subtle smokiness, as if some way in the distance someone singed some lichen and charred some lemon. Slowly, this opens into petrichor and creaminess. The palate is informed by a blithe freshness, dispersed by superbly fine mousse, bright but exquisitely resonant and buffered, slowly relaxing into a sleek generosity that reminds of toasted hazelnut. This presents a gorgeous duality of 2008 poise, all contour, all class, and Dom Pérignon richness. A triumph.
