18.5/20
Jancis Robinson MW
“Richard Geoffroy lost sleep this year that was characterised by rain then sun. A terrible August was rescued by a fine September – a little like 2008. Worryingly high pH. The vintage could easily have been written off. Released after nine years on the lees. M Geoffroy says it needed at least six or seven years ‘and the wine was nowhere before that’.
Some evolution on the nose with real interest. Smells so much older than either the 2008 or the 2009. Flirtatious. Clean and fresh. Very zesty in flavour but with a lovely creamy texture.
Drink 2016-2024”
96/100
Antonio Galloni
“Powerful, dense and tightly wound, the 2006 Dom Pérignon is fabulous today. To be sure, the 2006 is a broad, virile Champagne, but I find it compelling because of its phenolic depth and overall intensity. Chef de Caves Richard Geoffroy adds that August was quite cold and wet, and that ripening only happened at the very end of the growing season. Although numbers alone can never explain a wine, I find it interesting that the 2006 has more phenolics than the 2003. Readers will have to be patient, as the 2006 is easily the most reticent Dom Pérignon in the years spanning 2002 and 2009. I am confident the 2006 will have its day, but in its youth, it is not especially charming or easy to drink.”
96/100
Antonio Galloni
“One of the real surprises in this tasting, the 2006 Dom Pérignon comes across as very tightly wound and intense, which is probably a very good thing for its potential longevity. The sensation of tannins is quite present today. Ripe and intense but also held in check by its tannic heft, the 2006 is in no mood to show all of its cards. Stylistically, the 2006 is similar to the 2003 in its phenolic intensity, but more finessed. Readers should be in no rush with the 2006, a Champagne that has closed down quite a bit since it was first released.”
94 → 96/100
Essi Avellan MW
“Chef de Cave Richard Geoffroy is at ease, even exited about Champagne’s warming vintages for Dom Pérignon. He is not shy to demonstrate a broader scope of vintage expressions being increasingly comfortable at extremes. The 2006 is a bold and ripe Dom Pérignon full of exuberant tropical fruit and vanilla notes, topped up with the hallmark fragrant, gunpowder and toast character. It has a broad, rich mid-palate and a truly dry, salient finish with a phenolic touch of a ripe year. The fruitiness is polished and bright and there is fine, balanced freshness to it. This vintage is built to last, it is still tight but packed with fleshy fruitiness. 94 points today with potential for 96 points.”
92/100
Michael Edwards
“Stylish glittering pale gold with tiny flowing bubbles. Chardonnay scents lead into citrus fruits with floral lilac and snow drop aromas. The Pinot Noir is starting to stir amongst the ripe pear and peach flavours that are healthily tight. A fine acidity in a year lacking some. As always you need to be patient with Dom Pérignon, the supreme reductive style. This is still a baby with much potential.
”
18.5/20
Jancis Robinson MW
“Back label says this is the ‘First Plénitude’ of Dom P, having been aged for nine years. 55% Pinot Noir, 45% Chardonnay.
Bright pale slightly greenish straw. Rich, very tightly laced nose with many layers and great density – on the nose. Real excitement here with some tension. Some unashamed richness underneath but excellent freshness too. Something quite electric about this. Almost unfurled. You could certainly drink this with pleasure already but there is clearly lots tucked away here for future development. Impressively long and reverberant. 12%”
96/100
Robert Parker
“The 2006 Dom Pérignon comes from a very rich vintage with an early ripeness that brought a lot of aromatic maturity. The white-golden prestige cuvée contains a bit more Chardonnay than Pinot Noir and opens with a deep and seductive, pretty accessible nose with intense yet fresh fruit aromas of pineapples, with peaches and tangerines. Lively and elegant on the palate, this is a full-bodied, unusually aromatic and fruity DP with a long and tension-filled expression.”
93/100
Andrew Jefford
“A genuinely outstanding effort with the sometimes over-rich 2006 vintage, the light-gold DP is classy, fresh, refined and floral, with an intense, vivacious, darting palate with a weave of green lime and sea-shore pungency through it. Not many 06s can truly be said to be ‘chalky’ but this, weighed and filtered on the tongue, does indeed suggest the powdery dust which falls from the blackboard as you wipe it. Perhaps pure-steel handling helps the drinker perceive this? ”
97/100
Antonio Galloni
“The 2006 Dom Pérignon is a beautifully balanced, harmonious Dom Pérignon that strikes an incredibly appealing stylistic middle ground. Rich, voluptuous and creamy, the 2006 shows off fabulous intensity in a style that brings together the ripeness of 2002 with the greater sense of verve and overall freshness that is such a signature of the 2004. Bass notes and a feeling of phenolic grip on the finish recall the 2003, as the Pinot Noir is particularly expressive today. After an irregular summer that saw elevated temperatures in July followed by cooler, damp conditions in August, more favorable weather returned in September, pushing maturation ahead and leading to a long, protracted harvest. The 2006 falls into the family of riper, more voluptuous Dom Pérignons, but without veering into the level of opulence seen in vintages such as 2002.”
18+/20
Jancis Robinson MW
“Tasted blind. Pale greenish gold. Intense youthful nose. Dense and tense. Youthful with some sweetish creaminess. Slightly chewy on the end. 2006? ”
96/100
Assi Evellan MW
“The 2006 is a bold and ripe Dom Pérignon full of exuberant tropical fruit and vanilla notes, topped up with the hallmark fragrant, gunpowder and toast character. It has a broad, rich mid-palate and a truly dry, salient finish with a phenolic touch of a ripe year. The fruitiness is polished and bright and there is fine, balanced freshness to it. This vintage is built to last, it is still tight but packed with fleshy fruitiness. ”