Cover Dom Pérignon's chef de cave Vincent Chaperon makes a toast at the annual Révélations dinner in Spain
Dom Pérignon's chef de cave Vincent Chaperon makes a toast at the annual Révélations dinner in Spain
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At Dom Pérignon’s Révélations 2024 in Barcelona, Tatler gets a preview of the two new champagne releases and learns from chef de cave Vincent Chaperon about the circumstances in which the maison chooses not to release a vintage
We are standing in Palau Martorell, a majestic neoclassical museum in the heart of Barcelona, Spain, that has become a bastion of arts and culture in the city since it opened in 1882. It is the venue of Dom Pérignon’s first arts exhibition, Trace, held in July this year that showcases the creative intent of the champagne house’s chef de cave, Vincent Chaperon, in the making of the Pre‑Assemblages 2023, or still wines crafted from the 2023 harvest. Displayed in the spacious room are photographs and journals of Chaperon and his team of winemakers, as well as the abstract artwork of Italian artist Giuseppe Penone, depicting his close relationship with nature.
In many ways, the artwork represents Chaperon’s journey through the vineyards of the Champagne wine region. “We’re [dependent on] nature,” Chaperon says, reflecting on his decades‑long career in the champagne industry as well as the challenging period of last year that led to huge grape yields and unusually large bunches that diluted the wine. “I was tasting those grapes and feeling the absence of texture, tactility, and [a] lack of emotion.” Tactility, as he explains, is the sense of touch that has always been the foundation of Dom Pérignon’s taste. It allows imbibers to feel and taste the champagne; but for winemakers, it is how they build the champagne’s “contours, weight and temperature”. With that said, the Assemblage 2023, which is the blend of still wines from the 2023 harvest, did not come to fruition because “there was no emotion”. As he points out, “we don’t produce vintages if nature doesn’t allow it”.
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Révélations at La Fàbrica in Spain
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While 2023 will always be remembered as a testing period in the history of champagne‑making, Chaperon notes that nature has always been generous to him and his team of winemakers. This is evident in the Dom Pérignon Vintage 2015 and Dom Pérignon Vintage 2006 Plénitude 2—two new releases launched at Révélations 2024, the culmination of a series of champagne events, including the inaugural Trace exhibition, held this July in the hallowed halls of the refurbished cement factory La Fàbrica. This is the fourth edition of the Révélations event, an annual rendezvous that gives guests from all over the world a preview of the latest vintages through a solo champagne tasting as well as a lavish pairing dinner curated by Chaperon and world‑renowned chefs.
When asked to describe the champagnes, Chaperon says that both offer “tactile sensations but in very different ways”. Recalling the years of 2006 and 2015, he expresses that the former was “warm, sunny and wet”, and the latter, “warm, sunny and dry”. These constraints from nature—whether it is too much rain or sun, or a lack thereof—add complexity to the grapes, altering the champagne’s taste profile, he explains.
We proceed to sample the Dom Pérignon Vintage 2015 at the solo tasting conducted on the sprawling lawn of La Fàbrica, designed by renowned Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill Levi. We put on our earphones and listen to calming ambient music as we take a sip of the 2015 vintage that drinks fresh, and boasts precise notes of citrus peel, peach and nectarine. And, as we take another sip, the champagne becomes more generous, revealing slightly bitter notes interspersed with the characters of citrus and gentian. Chaperon later describes it as having an “authority without being aggressive”, and likens it to the works of Japanese photographer and architect Hiroshi Sugimoto, whose images of the sea and sky “evoke a sense of calm authority”.
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Above Dom Pérignon Vintage 2006 Plénitude 2 and Dom Pérignon Vintage 2015
Dom Pérignon Vintage 2006 Plénitude 2 and Dom Pérignon Vintage 2015
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The Dom Pérignon Vintage 2006 Plénitude 2, which we enjoy at the lavish dinner prepared by Spanish chef Albert Adrià and Italian chef Niko Romito, offers a rounder and more complex taste profile due to the fact that the champagne was matured in a cellar for close to 15 years. Yet, it is still incredibly fresh, and its well‑defined structure and great acidity are interwoven with notes of dry fruit, cacao and grilled hazelnuts. “It is elegant and sophisticated, and just embraces the palate with its viscosity,” enthuses Chaperon.
Inspired by the vintages’ tactility, Adrià and Romito crafted original dishes to complement the sensory qualities of the Vintage 2015 and Vintage 2006 Plénitude 2. In Romito’s dish of crunchy lettuce leaves studded with almonds, for example, the refreshing qualities of the Vintage 2015 enhance the texture and flavours of the appetiser, while his rich and decadent vegetable lasagne somehow feels lighter on the palate when it is enjoyed with the Vintage 2006 Plénitude 2. For Adrià’s grilled chicken ravioli showered with black truffles, the deep earthy notes are rounded off by the toasty characters and minerality of the Vintage 2006 Plénitude 2.
As dishes continue to be served and champagne glasses clink throughout the evening, Chaperon surprises us with a special musical performance by Bertrand Chamayou, who created an original piece that was also inspired by the tactility of the new releases. “Our goal [as winemakers] is to connect the emotions of the vineyard with your experiences in the glass,” shares Chaperon. And on this special evening, we become part of his champagne‑making journey in launching the new vintages and celebrating them with friends.
Dudi Aureus is the senior dining and travel editor at Tatler Singapore, covering the city’s most exciting restaurants, global travel trends, and the personalities shaping the culinary and lifestyle scenes. She also serves as co-jury chair for the Tatler Best awards in Singapore, celebrating the very best in hospitality. When she’s off duty, she can often be found at a favourite hole-in-the-wall Thai spot, savouring a perfectly balanced pad thai.
