Dom Pérignon Vintage 2012: Harmony in contradiction

The newly-released Dom Pérignon Vintage 2012 is a champagne of tightly-harnessed raw power that explodes with intensity and vigour.

Dom Pérignon calls its new 2012 release “an explosive harmony”.

Its latest drop comes from a year that, by all accounts, was an excellent vintage despite a nerve-wracking growing season. That year the Champagne wine growing region experienced the kinds of trials and tribulations that test the mettle – and nerves – of any vigneron. From a very wet spring and frost to an unceasing heat wave and a devastating hailstorm that decimated yields, 2012 was the kind of year that made or broke a producer.

For Dom Pérignon, it was an opportunity to present excellence in contradiction.

Explosive? The Dom Pérignon Vintage 2012 is certainly a powerful wine. The elaboration pulls together grapes from across the region – Chouilly and Mesnil, Hautvillers and Mailly, and Aÿ and Bouzy. The idea here was, presumably, to find a delicate balance from a year of striking contrasts. But unlike the fresh and vibrant 2010 and the more rounded, toasty 2008, 2012 is a beast melded in dichotomy.

Here you have abundant acidity, but also rich generosity in places. Then there’s the bite of steely flint, yet suddenly an autolytic breadiness in equal measure. The bouquet is reticent aloofness one minute, then come-hither the next. On the palate, a dogfight of acid and bitterness, with notes of forest berries, candied citrus and orchard fruit intermingling with fresh ginger, mineral graphite, and toasted nuts. Even a touch of tobacco paper.

The Dom Pérignon Vintage 2012 is a wine that confounds.

It is also one brimming with potential. The earlier two Dom Pérignon vintages may be drinking very well now, but there’s this nagging feeling that the new 2012 vintage is may just outshine them both down the road. We’d buy to hold for at least a few years.

The Dom Pérignon Vintage 2012 is available from Crystal Wines at the recommended retail price of S$270.

Dark Harmony at 28Wilkie with Dom Pérignon

If you’d like to discover new Dom Pérignon Vintage 2012, one of the best ways is at 28Wilkie. Dom Pérignon has partnered up with the one-Michelin-starred contemporary Italian restaurant to present ‘Dark Harmony’, a five-course champagne pairing menu that puts sets the 2012 edition alongside the earlier 2010 and 2008 vintages.

Each course in ‘Dark Harmony’ presents a different facet of Dom Pérignon – intensity, precision, tactile, complexity, and minerality. Minerality, for example, will emphasise the minerality of fresh seafood using amberjack, while long fin squid and tagliatelle will showcase tactility. The new Dom Pérignon Vintage 2012 itself will be paired a Middle Eastern-inspired spiced lamb dish to showcase intensity.

The five-course tasting menu at 28Wilkie starts at S$288++ per pax from 15 March 2022, while the ‘Dark Harmony’ pairing menu in collaboration with Dom Pérignon is available at S$480++ per pax with a minimum of 5 persons per booking. Reservations may be made at 28Wilkie either online or at +65 9776 2828.

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