TN - 2008 Dom Perignon Rose

2008 Dom Perignon Rose

on opening a dazzling imperial topaz color, intense ripe strawberry on the nose, ripe apple, pears, a fine cream with a hint of candied orange peel, on the palate uncommonly streamlined and racy, aggressive effervescence, pear notes, great persistence and length, quickly get quite firm on the aftertaste, at a half hour- marshmallows and candied fruit on the nose with fierce lime and earth notes, on the palate a great depth racy mineral-laden fruit, grand long finish that gets very aggressive- even rough- on the tail end before fanning out into a broad after-fragrance of steel, ripe fruit and rose petals, one hour- intense dark mousse, tightly closed, hints of cherry, long tightly coiled finish, two hours- shut down, almost one-dimensional at the moment, razor sharp lime acids, dried strawberries, broad and deep lingering aftertaste with orange peel and berries, six hours - grapefruit cream note, nose now dominated by primary berry and citrus notes, the purest and most succulent French wild strawberries, incredible length with steely lime acids, even for a 2008 this is in a very unruly state- but all that fiery beauty and great promise is there, it is like sitting at the kitchen table across from a very angry Sophia Loren- you know you are about to get a faceful of spaghetti but you cannot imagine any other place you would rather be, from a high level view this behaves more like a tight young blanc de blanc than a rose, also the minerality and steel notes are beautifully prominent, and despite it being so primary and out of sorts- here and there, especially in the first few minutes, there are awe-inspiring glimpses at how almost un-imaginably magnificent this creature will become in the fullness of time, with such a singular wine there is always a caveat about the unknown- but after half a life-time of loving Dom Perignon Rose I am giddily confident this will- alongside its sibling- take its rightful place among the greatest wines Dom Perignon has ever crafted.

(*****), 2028++

Side note- this wine was really tight and the above TN took an uncommon degree of concentration. Given how the 2008 Brut evolved in so many directions during its first two years, unless you have 2-3 bottles of this to spare for early experimentation- I would suggest waiting at least 6 months to open one. Curiosity got the better of me, and I do not have 2-3 to spare, and so tough luck- but it was awfully fun to go for the ride. On the food front, pairing this right now is a challenge. The main tasting was with duck liver mousse on french bread, which went pretty well. But the final stages of the TN at home left me with few options. And in that setting, a tomato caprese proved a most ideal accompaniment.

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Yeah, but will David like it?

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nice work and thanks for taking one for the team. do you drink this in a burg stem? that’s how it has been served whenever they show it at events and it makes a huge, positive, difference in my experience.

Love it, hope I can find one or two at a reasonable price.

Thanks for putting in the work on this wine and crafting this note.

Thanks everyone for your kind words. To your question Yaacov, yes- we were using a basic Pinot glass for this wine, and I agree it makes a really big difference with not only this, but other grand champagnes.

I think my early days of tasting with Suzanne Camhi and the gang in NYC is what put me on to that. Before, I had always used flutes and now I only use a medium sized burgundy glass for good champagne.

Resurrecting this marvelous tasting thread because I’m an idiot…got an email this morning from the accounting department of HDH wondering precisely why I haven’t paid for my two bottles of 2008 Dom Rose. I responded, “What two bottles of 2008 Dom Rose?” Zero memory of ordering these bottles, but damned happy to pay $800 for the pair. Billed a month ago…still no recall of the transaction. Since them I scrounged and dug two more bottles but at 10% higher price. Tom…I absolutely love reading your tasting notes…you obviously have a gift.

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Yeah I just got roped into 6 bottles myself at a terrible price compared to the $120 I paid for the white.

For anyone in the NY area, grapes (Posner) has 1 bottle left at $379.