Dom Perignon 2004

Racy, silky and vibrant in the glass, the 2004 Dom Pérignon is all about energy. Here the flavors are bright and delineated throughout, with veins of acidity and minerality that give the wine its sense of drive. Mint, rosemary and yellow-fleshed fruits linger on the finish with the classic DP reductive overtones that are such a signature. Once again, the 2004 Dom Pérignon truly shines. The 2004 Dom Pérignon is a wine to treasure over the next thirty or so years. Drink 2015-2044.

The 2004 Dom Pérignon is one of the more reductive, autolytic vintages of this wine to have been released in the last decade, offering up a toasty bouquet of pears, green apple, iodine, peach and smoke. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, satiny textured and fleshy, with a sweet core of fruit, a fine mousse and a vinous profile. The 2004 is drinking well today: as I wrote earlier this year, between the rich, ripe 2002 and the powerful but racy 2008, the 2004 is an excellent but more classically proportioned example of Dom Pérignon.

Very pale straw gold with surely the most discreet bubbles in the champagne world. Very different from the 2003. A much more recognisable Dom Pérignon sort of nose with fairly intense classic toastiness. Minerals and raciness rather than fruit and body. Marked acidity and even a little lean but very fine. There are notes of iodine and bitter orange peel. This wine really gets saliva flowing. The finish is not massively persistent but overall this is a very well mannered wine. A Chablis of a champagne - which 2003 definitely wasn't! (It was more of a Pouilly-Fuissé.)

Delicate nose and very ethereal, clean and demure attack. Aromatic and floral and then very sharp and crisp on the palate, the finish grows and grows. Interesting flavour trajectory - very attractive and mesmerising. The vintage was 'easy' apparently, with no botrytis or other issues and this shows in the pristine lines of this wine. It is clearly a 'bounce back' after the fat, bloated 2003! With more Pinot Noir than usual (53%) this offsets the creamy ripe Chardonnay and gives it a more restrictive silhouette. With a little longer lees ageing than normal and a later release, too, this is a very subtle and correct wine with a stunning crescendo of flavours and it already looks ravishing!