Dom Pérignon 2009 vintage to be released before 2008

Dom Pérignon is to release its 2009 vintage Champagne out of chronological order, just as Louis Roederer announced with Cristal 2009 last year. Michael Edwards tastes the DP 2009 and reports on the vintage...

Dom Pérignon 2009 is the first vintage of this prestige cuvée to be released out of chronological sequence. It will reach merchants in advance of the 2008, a reflection of the warmth and maturity of the 2009 in comparison to the cooler, classic 2008 which still needs more time. Louis Roederer also released its Cristal 2009 ahead of the 2008.

The pervasive character of the 2009 Champagne vintage is magnificent mature fruit, a viscous, silky texture, and salinity, created under a benign sun. It was a warm harvest picked in idyllic conditions from 12 September, and is part of a ‘spiral’ of hot vintages since 2003, according to Dom Pérignon’s chef de caves, Richard Geoffroy.

‘Dom Pérignon 2009 would not be the triumph it is today without the experience of making the 2003,’ he said. ‘It’s one of the seminal vintages of a fantastic decade that encourages winemakers to go beyond what they already know, to take risks and keep on growing.’

It seems that the Dom Pérignon 2009 has taken inspiration from the remarkable 2003, but adds a new layer of finesse. It is also interesting how it differs from the 2006. The 2009 vintage will be available in the autumn of 2017. Dom Pérignon is owned by French luxury goods group LVMH.

Viognier saviour Georges Vernay dies in the Rhône

Georges Vernay, one of the men who saved Condrieu in the Northern Rhône and put Viognier on the world wine map in the process, has passed away at the age of 92.

Georges Vernay (1926–2017) was the pioneer of the appellation we know today as Condrieu in the northern Rhône.

He took over at the family winery in 1953 with only one hectare in the Coteau de Vernon. His father, Francis, had planted vines in 1937 and at that time the domaine was cultivating several crops alongside vines.

The appellation of Condrieu was born in 1940, but the name was not officially listed by French officials until 1945, after the Second World War. The wines of this time were sold simply with Viognier on the label, rather than the name of the appellation.

Before Condrieu gained a worldwide reputation, the appellation nearly disappeared. In 1960, the AOC included seven hectares of Viognier – believed to be some of the only commercially-planted Viognier left in the world at the time. In 1986, it extended to 20 hectares; in 1990, it covered 60 hectares; and today the appellation covers 184 hectares. It was Georges Vernay’s brilliance that transformed this small appellation into one with a worldwide reputation.

‘My father-in-law was a real, erudite wine grower who represented the [Viognier] grape,’ said Paul Amsellem, of Domaine Georges Vernay and husband of Christine Vernay. ‘He did not realise that he represented the grape all by himself [for a long time].’

Paul Amsellem described Georges Vernay as ‘a forerunner in the comprehension of the Viognier grape but also in the techniques of vinification’. He added: ‘He was one of the first to use thermo-regulation and barrels in the Rhône Valley.’

Georges Vernay was president of Condrieu for 30 years. Today, all the winemakers from this appellation have lost the forefather of Condrieu.

Krug launches luxury festival in English countryside for £400 a ticket

Krug has announced it will be hosting a lavish, night-time Champagne, food and music festival in Hampshire, with tickets starting at £395 per person.

Champagne house Krug announced that it will host a luxury festival called ‘Into the Wild’ this summer, where guests will be treated to barbecued meats cooked on 10-feet-high fires and paired with Krug Champagne. There will also be music acts, but no names were disclosed.

Tickets for the festival, to be held on 29 July from 4pm to midnight, will cost £395 per person or £750 for a pair, said Krug.

It said the event will take place in the ‘grand English wilderness’ of Hampshire.

More specifically, ‘Into the Wild’ will be set up in the grounds of The Grange, a 19th-century Greek-revival manor owned by the 7th Lord Ashburton. It’s a venue that already hosts an annual opera festival. 

The evening’s entertainment is said to come from South American chef Francis Mallmann, who will headline the festival with his open-fire cooking, using flames reaching up to 10ft high.

Dubbed by the Champagne house as a ‘culinary sybarite’, Mallmann is a celebrity chef who grew up in Patagonia, Argentina, where he first realised his love for ‘open-fire cooking’.

Olivier Krug, director of the eponymous Champagne house, said, ‘Francis Mallmann embodies the Krug spirit of a refined maverick’.

Mallmann will lead the guests across three sites of the estate, where his team will have cooked locally sourced meat and vegetables for up to seven hours on mammoth fires.

Each round of his barbecued meats will be paired with a wine from Krug’s Champagne portfolio in what is being termed as ‘rough luxury style’.

No live music acts have been revealed, but Krug has said new music platform Mahogany will be in charge of the musical pairings.

The event follows on from their ‘Krug Island’ project last year, when Krug Champagne partnered up with Mick Jones to throw an exclusive music festival on a private island off the coast of Essex. Young celebrities including Rafferty Law, Jaime Winstone and Tess Ward were in attendance.