Celebrations with Vintage Champagne

New Delhi, Dec1 Tis party season and we like nothing more than to sip on champagne during sunny afternoons or party the night away with some bubbly in hand. While champagne has always been the popular choice for wedding celebrations, why not toast the special occasion with some fine vintage options.

Oenologist, Nicholas Blampied-Lane from Dom Pérignon was in the Capital recently, and IANSlife got a head start on what we can expect from the Maison for 2020. While Nicholas remained tight-lipped about sharing too much information, he did give us some details about wha''s in store.

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"The plan for 2020 is we are going to have a couple of new releases. Always exciting to be releasing a new expression of Dom Pérignon, as we are a vintage only brand, so we interpret the style through the harvest conditions. What the weather was like, the character and personality of the vintage we are going to release 2003, The Plénitude 2, and also release the 2010 vintage. We are looking forward to th"s," he revealed.

Having joined Dom Pérignon in 2017, Nicholas has held the position of Director, Oenology Projects at Moët & Chandon since June 2016. Along with being a seasoned globetrotter in the winemaking world, he is also a passionate winemaker and has remained at the estate for 12 years, honing his oenological expertise while being able to bring his own multicultural perspective to the project. He has contributed to the elaboration of 13 vintages at Cloudy Bay.

So what is exciting about the new releases we asked the exp"rt. 'What's exciting for the winemaking team is that the wines are very different from what we are drinking now. At the moment we have 2008, the white vintage Dom Pérignon, which is very classic, mineral, a structured and a cool vintage. We also have the 2002 Plénitude 2 which has a very rich and powerful flavour. Now we are going to cross over to very different vintages so there will be a slight change in mentality, he replies.

At Dom Pérignon, Nicholas works closely with Chef de Cave Vincent Chaperon, tasting, assembling and refining the wines, while also monitoring their maturation. When it comes to champagne, recessions hardly impact the segment, we try and find out"why. "I thin' what's important for us is that Dom Pérignon plays at many levels-- with the luxury goods, packaging, artistic collaborations, fine dining and nightlife. But as winemakers, our job as winemakers is to ensure the contents of the bottle have the permanence of quality. Our job is to give the wine creden'e, it's important to remember the long ageing of our product, we release the vintage after eight or nine years, and the Plénitude 2 after sixteen or seventeen years, so that at any given point of time every single bottle of Dom Perignon which is going to be consumed over the next ten years is already made. We have no flexibility in what we do, it's a long term engag"ment," states Nicholas.

Last and certainly we asked the expert at hand how exactly to pair a vintage with Indian food, for it to not get overpowered by the masalas. Nicholas is quite optimistic a"ding, "Indian food is very complex and diverse, and the different kindfrom different regions are all Indian food. But if you look at modern Indian cuisine there are certain elements that you can pair the vintage with… often you need only one thing… like a bitterness from a vegetable for example, or a light spice,you only need one of these things to accompany the wine. A modern and innovative interpretation of Indian cuisine works well with our p"oduct."

Dom Perignon by nature, quality and reputation appeals to the more experienced consumer, who has had the time and means to appreciate some of the finer things in life. At the same time, it is also an aspirational brand and in the future the Maison is optimistic about Indian loyalists who want nothing but the finest.