Dom Perignon 2000 Plenitude 2 - P2 Champagne 75cl

The Plénitude (originally Oenothèque) concept has been years in development at Dom Pérignon. After studying the natural course of ageing that vintage champagne seems to undertake, the winemaking team found that, rather than improving steadily and linearly (as is the case with many wines), it develops and matures through three defined stages in its life.

The first release (P1) comes approximately 8 years after the harvest and is the style that most consumers are familiar with. The second stage (P2) takes roughly 15 years, during which time the cuvée takes a profound leap to a new quality level where it will plateau for many years in terms of improvement. Finally, the third plénitude (P3) will see the champagne ageing another 20-30 years until it reaches its ultimate peak. Initially these mature vintages were made available under limited release called “Oenothèque” but were re-braned in 2014 as “Plénitude”. Read more about the Plénitude concept here.

Weather: The 2000 vintage was characterised by challenging contrasts between cold and rainy periods and warm and stormy weather. Summer was uncertain and often gloomy but the weather brightened miraculously during the last few days of August, saving the harvest from doom. The 2000 vintage was first released as the 'standard' Dom Pérignon (P1) labelling back in 2008. The second release, Plénitude 2, was then launched in 2017 after an additional nine years of ageing.

News Article: Read more about Dom Pérignon Plenitude 2 - P2 2000 in our review of the launch event here.

Technical Information:
Vineyards: 100% Grand & Premier Cru
Grape Varieties: 52% Chardonnay, 48% Pinot Noir
Ageing: 16 years on the lees
Disgorged: 2017
Dosage: 4 g/l
Alcohol: 12.5%
Drink: Now to 2033

Tasting Note: Initially on the nose, warm and lively aromas of brioche and hints of citrus fruits shine through. The palate is vibrant and striking with oranges and peaches combine with toasty notes. A well-balanced and creamy mid-palate lingers long in the mouth.

Dom Pérignon Plénitude 2 - P2 2000 is presented in a high-quality metalled Dom Pérignon gift box (as shown in the bottom left picture).

Dom Pérignon is the prestige cuvée of prestige cuvées. Uniquely only available as a vintage champagne produced in exceptional years from just two grape varieties, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Dom Pérignon is an iconic wine with an unrivalled heritage. Often considered one of the founding fathers of Champagne itself, the Benedictine Monk Dom Pierre Pérignon spent forty-seven years working in the historic Abbey of Hautvillers pursuing his ambition to create the "best wine in the world".

Today, that legacy lives on. Produced in amazing volumes yet retaining its sheer class, Moët & Chandon's prestige cuvée is so distinguishable, the two brands are best considered autonomous. Based on a core of Grand Cru villages and the oldest vines of the Premier Cru of Hautvillers, 'The Dom' is a wine of tension, power and long-ageing endurance and has been the vision of talented Chef de Cave, Richard Geoffroy, for over two and a half decades. Geoffroy's unique winemaking philosophy is to allow the personality of each vintage to express itself and compliment it with the famous House style, rather than simply re-creating an identical blend each year.

Cellar Master: 1990 - 2019: Richard Geoffroy | 2019 - Present: Vincent Chaperon
Winery Location: Épernay | Champagne, France
Champagne Region: Côte des Blancs
Annual Production (bottles): Undisclosed

An interview with Richard Geoffroy, Dom Perignon Cellar Master wine-searcher.com, 20th March 2013

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Uniquely available just as a vintage champagne and produced only in exceptional years, Dom Pérignon is an iconic wine with an unrivalled heritage. Nestled in the heart of Champagne on a hillside overlooking the Marne Valley, the Abbey of Hautvillers is Dom Pérignon’s historic birthplace, where it was founded in around 650 by Saint Nivard, the Archbishop of Reims. It was destroyed and rebuilt on several occasions, but finally rose from its ashes in the 16th century with the help of Catherine de Médicis. It was in this exceptional place that Dom Pérignon pursued his ambition to create the “best wine in the world” for forty-seven years.

Dom Pierre Pérignon, one of the Benedictine Monks, was appointed Cellar Master and charged with improving the quality of their wine. At this time, most wines were red but with Champagne being so northerly, it wasn’t really warm enough for red wine production. This cooler region of France saw later harvests and so the wines often hadn’t finished fermentation before the cold winter set in. Spring then came, warmed up the bottles and the fermentation started again - this time in the bottles, which often exploded and the fizz was seen as an imperfection. Dom Pierre Pérignon tried hard to improve a number of vineyard practices and grape pressing techniques and even brought in stronger glass from England, producing cleaner white wines with a light fizz (sealed with a cork and firmly tied down!) The Abbey at Hautvillers became an important supplier of wine to events at Reims Cathedral and to the Royal Household.

It was nearly 100 years later in the early 1800s that this process was perfected closer to what we call champagne today, but much of the practices still used in champagne production trace their origins back to Dom Pierre Pérignon’s time at the Abbey. In recognition of his work, when Dom Pierre Pérignon died in 1715 he was granted special rights to be buried in the Abbey, a space normally reserved for the Abbots.

The philosophy, vision and spirit of Dom Pérignon are incarnated in his Manifesto, a document which explains the ten basic principles guiding winemaking at the house. Dom Pérignon can only be a vintage and each year the Chef de Cave reinvents the house style with different grapes, creating a unique champagne: a perfect balance between the expression of Dom Pérignon and the expression of the vintage itself. It is made using a subtle blend of two grape varieties – Chardonnay and Pinot Noir – which are taken from the very best vineyards in Champagne.

The champagnes owe their complexity to the slow ripening of the grapes, which conserves freshness while revealing new aromas and new textures with the passing of time. These aromas, which develop in the wines as they are protected from oxygen during the ageing process, guarantee exceptional cellaring potential and a characteristic minerality which is an aromatic signature of the house.

Current Chef de Cave Richard Geoffroy makes the decision each year as to whether or not the vintage will be declared: “If the fruit we have harvested doesn’t satisfy the Dom Pérignon criteria, there will not be a vintage that year.” This vision is tangible through the subtle balance that characterises the champagnes: an alliance of complexity and intensity. Slow maturation means that each vintage has wonderful ageing potential and can be presented in three Plénitudes.