Dom Perignon Vintage 2013

Dom Perignon Vintage Champagne, France, 2013

Grapes: A blend of 49% Chardonnay and 51% Pinot Noir, dosage 5g/L

Producer Tasting Note:

The creation of the 2013 vintage reveals the resonance between the pinots noirs and chardonnays, between acidity and fullbodied. The precise, elegant and tactile bouquet blooms in an extremely delicate powdery aromatic braid around three nuances: first citrus, then a more vegetal facet and lastly, spices. This precision reveals a simple and evident elegance where the wine, after an ethereal attack, amplifies and blossoms before ceding to an ineffable sensation of clarity.

The delicate nose unfolds in swaths of colour. The green of eucalyptus, mint and vetiver, the yellow-orange of mirabelle plums, apricot and orange blossom, the brown of pepper, cardamom and licorice sticks, and finally silvery saline and toasty hues. The mouthfeel is elegant, expressing luxuriant simplicity and precision. The refined and silky foundation becomes more pronounced at the heart. The finish is dominated by a salinity that leaves a deep sensation of consistency.

Critics' Tasting Notes:

"Disgorged in October last year, the 2013 Dom Pérignon is a lovely wine, defined by the long, cool growing season. Offering up aromas of crisp stone fruit, tangerine oil, buttered toast, pear, almonds and clear honey, it's medium to full-bodied, ample and seamless, with bright acids and a pillowy, enveloping profile, concluding with a long, saline finish. Vincent Chaperon recalls that shatter at fruit set moderated yields and that a drying east wind in the weeks before harvest helped to maintain the good sanitation necessary to wait to pick at full maturity." Drink 2023-2043

95+/100 points, William Kelley, WINE ADVOCATE, August 2022

"Tasted blind. Amidst a blind line-up of relatively big name champagnes (La Grande Dame 2015, Moët Grande Vintage 2015, Krug Grand Cuvée), this stood out head and shoulders above the rest. Lusty, guttural, uncompromising. Big, powerfully toasty nose! Here be fireworks. Tiny bubbles, like 3D lace running a matrix through the wine. Clementine, straw, yuzu, kumquat, sharp apples – so much fruit! And then long, hungry, lean savoury lines. Grilled sourdough toast, roasted walnuts. So much here. Very, very long and very, very persistent. This is outstanding. The bubbles are like tiny, glittering jewels stitched into silk. A seriously exciting, serious wine. For special occasions I could almost too easily be persuaded to part with £250 for a bottle of this." Drink 2023-2029

18.5/20 points, Tamlyn Currin, JancisRobinson.com, December 2023

Also awarded 3/3 Stars, Le Guide Hachette des Vins, 2023

The 2013 growing season was two weeks late all through, including picking starting as late as 30 September, and 90% of the crop was harvested in October, even later than in 2004 (1988 and 1996 were also late), even though summer was one of the hottest and driest in July and August. Vine leaves were very pale and falling to the ground. Vincent Chaperon was visited by a consultant from the south of France who was amazed by this. Yields were reduced, which was a surprise because they were expecting a big vintage after the small 2012. Quality was very varied and there was some botrytis. The third period of the growing season was two weeks of rain in September. Vines on clay and sand really suffered; less so on chalk, especially the grands crus. Some people started to pick now but the trick was to wait for the lovely weather at the end of September and beginning of October. It was quite warm for the season and some east wind dried out the vines in some places, so some 2013s from lesser sites are not so good. Chardonnay fared better (riper) than Pinot Noir, so the 2013 Dom Pérignon is skewed towards Chardonnay. Total production was about the same as in 2012: lowish, unlike 2004 or 2018. Disgorged October 2021. Launched at the end of 2022.

Food Pairing: 

Can be paired in a fantastic way with acid-rich fruits or plants such as citrus fruits, green tomatoes, sorrel or rhubarb.