The vintage bubbly's launch in Singapore coincides with an exclusive five-course menu at one-Michelin-starred 28 Wilkie, available for a limited period only
Vintage champagnes are shaped by the weather in the year they were produced. For the Dom Pérignon Vintage 2013, which was recently launched in Singapore, winemaker Jean-Baptiste Terlay remembers the period to be a year of alternating extremes.
“The vineyards were subjected to a cold, wet winter as it would never end… and the long months marked by excess water were followed by one of the hottest, driest and sunniest summers in the last two decades,” shares Terlay. The combination of factors brought forth an assemblage of chardonnay and pinot noir with a “promising balance of full-bodied taste thanks to the summery weather, and an acidity typical of late harvests”.
In the words of Terlay, chef de cave Vincent Chaperon is the composer who shapes the vintage based on his vision of the year. Thus, the assemblage was matured in the darkness of the cellars for some 10 years. With time on its side, the Dom Pérignon Vintage 2013 achieved an “elegance of clarity” that was only possible with the extreme weather in 2013.
On the nose, the vintage champagne unfolds with a delicate bouquet of green eucalyptus, apricot and orange blossom, cardamom and licorice. These are interspersed with saline and toasty notes that give way to an elegant and creamy mouthfeel as well as deep saline finish.
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The vintage is a versatile champagne that you can drink on its own or pair with food, which is why the maison partnered with one-Michelin-starred modern European restaurant 28 Wilkie to curate a five-course menu inspired by the bubbly. “The relentless pursuit of creativity and innovative ambition is what drew me to the Dom Pérignon champagne. It is precisely paralleled on how I perceived my food to be: breaking new grounds,” declares chef de cuisine Seth Lai, whose restaurant is one of the two establishments which is part of the exclusive Dom Pérignon Society in Singapore.
For the one-of-a-kind menu, Lai declares that he wanted to showcase the five facets of the Dom Pérignon vintages—Intensity, Precision, Tactile, Complexity and Minerality—through his delectable dishes that are presented in harmony with the Dom Pérignon Vintage 2013, 2012 and 2010.
Showcasing his passion for seasonal Japanese ingredients, the menu opens on an delicious note with ‘Intensity’, as showcased in the velvety cauliflower custard topped with uni, fava beans and caviar. Its varying textures and flavour profiles are only accentuated by the freshness and fruitiness of the Vintage 2010.
“I think this is an ethereal, clean way to start dinner,” explains Lai, whose succeeding dish is the tender and creamy sweetbread mingled with petit pois (for texture) and lardo (for saltiness), and doused in an umami shio kombu broth that tastes even better with the Vintage 2012.
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