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 Vintage1996 Label 1 of 21 
TypeWhite - Sparkling
ProducerMoët & Chandon (web)
VarietyChampagne Blend
DesignationCuvée Dom Pérignon
Vineyardn/a
CountryFrance
RegionChampagne
SubRegionn/a
AppellationChampagne
UPC Code088110554057

Community Tasting History

Community Tasting Notes (average 94.8 pts. and median of 95 pts. in 295 notes)

 Tasted by winefool on 1/20/2010 & rated 94 points: IWFSC Governors Lunch (Dan's): Another delicious showing for this wine - getting a little better if anything. (1401 views)
 Tasted by fredb on 1/9/2010: Medium yellow in glass, showing some deeper notes. Medium bead. Rich nose of butterscotch, sweet earth, flowers, and ginger-spiced baked pear. On the palate, this shows sweet butterscotch, lime, mushroom, pear, and a rocky quality. The fusion of fruit and earth notes is not fully integrated at this point, but the indications are that the material is there for this to become something special in time. Not bad to check now, but it is sacrificing future potential. Hold. (1691 views)
 Tasted by MBS on 1/1/2010 & rated 94 points: Powerful with great balance. long after taste and very sophisticated-NO TOASTIE (1580 views)
 Tasted by dcprincess on 1/1/2010 & rated 95 points: (1093 views)
 Tasted by jreis on 12/31/2009: This wine really lives up to the hype and high ratings. It has shed some of the hard edges of its youth and has a beautfiul nose of baked bread, strawberries and almonds. Nice fine bead, delicate mousse, beautifully and consistently balanced between sweet apple and limestone minerality from attack all the way through to a very long finish. Outstanding. (1500 views)
 Tasted by JeffW on 12/31/2009 & rated 97 points: still improving. Powerful with great balance. long after taste and very sophisticated (1482 views)
 Tasted by MPAN on 12/21/2009 & rated 96 points: Vivid, toasted nose, quite sweet but well balanced, soft, round, just very nice. (2386 views)
 Tasted by Anonymous on 12/19/2009 & rated 93 points: Deep straw color with hints of copper (unknown storage), lots of fine pops. Festive but tight nose of toast, baked apple, citrus. Wish I could have given the bouquet time to unwind and grow in the glass, but circumstances did not permit. Vibrant apple and citrus on the palate along with roasted nuts and toast. Fresh minerals lend complexity in a long finish. Still quite youthful. Outstanding but even better days ahead for this bubbly. (2330 views)
 Tasted by razziz on 12/18/2009 & rated 94 points: (1719 views)
 Tasted by Employee500 on 11/30/2009 & rated 95 points: Both rich and vibrant/vervy at the same time, great complexity. Great flinty nose.... (3405 views)
 Tasted by vkcellars on 11/23/2009 & rated 95 points: (2499 views)
 Tasted by Anonymous on 11/9/2009 & rated 98 points: (2997 views)
 Tasted by MatthewF on 10/23/2009: Alan's Vosne Romanee Birthday at BOKA (BOKA Restaurant, Chicago IL): Toasty citrus nose with some baked apple as well. Great texture with fantastic minerality and acidity. Clearly needs time to turn into something fantastic, but still showing great and a pleasure to drink. (4059 views)
 Tasted by PatrikO on 10/21/2009 & rated 94 points: Better on second day, very young and vibrant, still overshadowed by the much more powerful and complex 1990. (4608 views)
 Tasted by rickym13 on 10/14/2009 & rated 95 points: (3353 views)
 Tasted by 60ouvrees on 10/1/2009: Didn't hit the heights of the '85 DP drunk earlier this year but still a very good bottle. (4775 views)
 Tasted by Margauxguy on 9/30/2009 & rated 98 points: Spectacular bottle, just starting to show secondary charectoristics, bright, full and rich, some toasty nuances coming around. maybe the best bottle of Champ I have had in a long time (4766 views)
 Tasted by mgaetzi on 9/29/2009 & rated 95 points: (3820 views)
 Tasted by abh on 9/28/2009: Utterly fresh, tight, lean wine. Better in a big glass where it gave up more complexity and to me the chardonnay component became more evident. Wonderful bead and balance but still an infant. (4798 views)
 Tasted by Finare Vinare on 9/26/2009 & rated 95 points: (3571 views)
 Tasted by tyvoodoo on 9/26/2009 & rated 94 points: Really tight with lots of bright citrus fruit and zipping acidity. Roasted almonds, brioche and yeasty dough. Need a ton more time, lots of promise there. (4873 views)
 Tasted by Richard Jennings on 9/18/2009 & rated 94 points: Full Monty Tasting Dinner (Montrachet & Le Montrachet only) (Stephen Gold's home, San Francisco, California): Light yellow color; yeasty, brioche nose; tart lemon, toast, tart orange, cream palate with roundness and elegance; medium-plus finish (4831 views)
 Tasted by pricseno on 9/12/2009 & rated 99 points: Incredible 20th anniversary celebration - loved it!! (4694 views)
 Tasted by reluctant europhile on 9/11/2009 & rated 99 points: better than i even remembered, i think this rivals the krug from '96. these bottles will be perfect to celebrate the doomsday prophecy in 2012 (4883 views)
 Tasted by aof on 9/1/2009 & rated 95 points: Birthday Dinner (Sontes, Rochester, MN): Wonderful aromatics on popping the cork. Quite racy and complex with nutty flavors. Long, remarkable finish. It evolved in the glass over an hour, suggesting a substantial upside in the near future. Altogether a very elegant, focused and highly refreshing champagne. (5334 views)
 Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine...

Professional 'Channels'
By Lyle Fass
Rockss and Fruit (7/20/2004)
(Dom Perignon) So lacy and elegant. Almost the definition of finesse. Tremendous concentration of light citrus fruits and brilliant integration of acid, bubbles and fruit. Obviously young but I'm not pouring mine out.
By John Kapon
Vintage Tastings, Shanghai Nights (8/14/2007)
(Dom Perignon) If there is one thing you can count on in this world, it’s that you will find Dom Perignon in every major city in the world. What do they make of that stuff now, 4 million cases a year? Just kidding, Nicole, and it was good to see a familiar face on the wine list to start things off, 1996 Dom Perignon to be exact. Toasty, lean and racy, there was a bit of a white Burgundian, smoky complexity to the nose in this 1996 DP, along with distinct corn oil aromas. I have had a lot of variation with the ’96 already in its short life, but this was an excellent bottle, with flavors of rainwater, musk, toast and yeast. Of course, it had the vintage’s fantastic acidity, but the wine was just a touch square at the moment, a squareness that I am sure time will undo  94 points
By John Kapon
Vintage Tastings, Paris a la Mode with Dr. Desai (9/19/2005)
(Dom Perignon) we were quickly marveling at not only the quality of the 1996, but also about how they make close to one million bottles of it when a vintage is declared, and how that has to translate into about $50-75 million for the company each vintage. Not bad. The 1996 DP was a good way to start the trip and reminded me that if I had to stock up on one vintage of Champagne for the long haul, it would be 1996. The DP was fresh, racy and full of minerals with lots of zip and zest and a stone-faced personality. The wet rock and youthful mineral flavors were delicious, and the acidity left no doubt that this wine would shine for a long, long time. There was still a delicacy to it, and while it was not rich up front or in its fruit qualities yet, the finish left no doubt that this is an all-time classic for DP  96+ points
By John Kapon
Vintage Tastings, Dom Perignon, 12 Angry Men, Auction Lunch and a Holiday Party (12/13/2004)
(Dom Perignon) very fresh nose (of course) full of stones, taut citrus, dust and pinches of anise and minerals. There was an intense, taut center flirting with pungency but not really pungent, more like intensity. Man, do I love the 1996s - the zip, zest and zoom of the vintage are tremendous and better than 1990 in my opinion. Bernard agreed with that opinion, calling the balance and acidity .a notch above.. The 1996 had great acidity, and flavors of citrus, anise, bread, stones, minerals and raindrops. There were additional flavors of limestone and seltzer on the finish. Dan picked up on its "straw" flavors, and it got stonier with time. The 1996 had an unmatched verve for the evening  96 points
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vintage Tastings and Rockss and Fruit. (manage subscription channels)

CellarTracker Wiki Articles (login to edit | view all articles)
Producer website
Definition of "sparkling wine" at Wikipedia
The typical champagne blend is of three grapes - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier. Wines labeled as 'Blanc de Blancs' are by definition all Chardonnay, and wines labeled as 'Blanc de Noirs' contain Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier or both in the blend.

There are how ever three addtional grape varieties planted (Arbane, Petit Meslier and Pinot Blanc) and used in Champagne, they could be called legacy grapes and do not represent significant portion of the grapes used (<0.01%?). It is not permitted to plant more of these varieties.
Vins de France (Office National Interprofessionnel des Vins ) | Pages Vins, Directory of French Winegrowers | French Wine (Wikipedia)
Le Champagne (Le comité interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne)

France - When it comes to wine, France stands alone. No other country can beat it in terms of quality and diversity. And while many of its Region, Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne most obviously, produce wine as rare, as sought-after and nearly as expensive as gold, there are just as many obscurities and values to be had from little known appellations throughout the country. To learn everything there is to know about French wine would take a lifetime. To understand and appreciate French wine, one only has to begin tasting them. Click for a list of bestselling items from all of France. Sub-Region:

Champagne - The French region of Champagne (comprised of the towns of Rheims, Epernay, and Ay) was the first region in the world to make sparkling wine in any quantity. Today, the name of the region is synonymous with the finest of all sparkling wines, and winemaking traditions of Champagne have become role models for sparkling wine producers, worldwide. Surprisingly, the region of Champagne is now responsible for only one bottle in 12 of all sparkling wine produced. Styles of champagne range from the basic brut (often blends of several vintages), single vintage champagnes, and rose.

 
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