Dom Pérignon Vintage 2015 Champagne 75cl Gift Box

2015 was an atypical and bewildering year, rather mild as a whole, nonetheless punctuated by some brutal changes in the weather. Above all, it was marked by drought, intense heat and sunlight. The highly unusual summer is a distinctive character of 2015. Winter had been very average, and spring quite chilly initially. Then an exceptionally long period of drought began, running from the second half of spring through most of summer, bringing extreme temperatures and sunshine. August 2015 was the warmest August in 45 years. 2015 is one of these early harvests to begin in the first days of September. At Dom Pérignon, picking started on September 7th, a few days after the first ripe grape clusters were picked in Champagne. The pinot noir grapes were superb – fruity and powerful, ample and structured, altogether full and delicate, providing absolutely magnificent matter. The chardonnay proved more uneven due to drought, requiring drastic sorting.

2003 was the year when the climate reached a tipping point in Champagne. Since then, a series of extreme vintages has led Dom Pérignon to embark on a new, more radical creative direction. 2015 is one of them. Like 2003, 2015 showed a similar precocity during the grapevine growth cycle. The two vintages share certain extreme traits, first and foremost the enduring presence of the sun. Yet the authority of Dom Pérignon Vintage 2015, its firm and chiselled bitterness cannot but recall other vintages based on a strong structure: the precise and tight structure of 2005, or the wide and profound structure of 2010. Still, there is something very specific about 2015, namely the drought. The uneven water supply across the different vineyard plots resulted in significant variations from one location to the next. In particular, there were major differences among the terroirs in terms of the size and concentration of the grapes. 2015 could thus prove to be a forerunner of 2022.