2004 Dom Perignon P2 Plenitude Brut, Champagne

P2 is the acronym for the Plénitude 2 series, Dom Pérignon’s second life. It indicates that bottles are kept by the house to let them age on the lees and to obtain different expressions of the same wine throughout its life, letting time work its magic and thus acquiring additional complexity. This year, Dom Pérignon’s cellar master, Vincent Chaperon, decided to release the 2004 vintage. ‘2004 was a contrast to 2003,’ he said. After rain in January, the spring was hot and sunny, like the beginning of summer. But the summer was wet, with 50% more rain than in an average year. Despite this, the health of the grapes was stable and the crop was abundant. ‘This is quite a perfect vintage,’ he added. The bouquet impresses with its finesse and elegance, its delicate aromas of pastry, orchard fruit, nuts, and lemon oil, and both iodine and chalky hints with air. The palate is medium- to full-bodied, very charming, with a sappy texture, racy acids, and a long and lingering finish. This is a very harmonious and rather chalky Dom Pérignon, which must be approached in its singularity. Time is a real asset here. Dosage: 5g/L.

96 points Yohan Castaing decanter.com

Structured, tight and mineral with so much tension. White grapefruit, lemon rind, dried apple, seashell, iodine, biscuit and blanched almond. Vibrant. Fantastic focus and verticality. Disgorged July 2021. Will be released October 2022. Drink on release or hold.

97 points jamessuckling.com

The Second Plénitude, invigorated by additional years on lees, is a wine that brazenly transcends the potential of the 1998 vintage. In this window of expression, the wine is majestic in its Dom Prignon intensity. Dom Pérignon’s creation is centred upon its absolute dedication to vintage wines. Dom Pérignon aspires for each vintage to have the potential to gradually transform, in a quest to find itself. In the obscurity of the Dom Perignon cellars, and the long journey of maturation on the lees, the wine evolves through moments of succession called Plénitudes.

There are no fewer than three Plénitudes of Dom Pérignon. The first Plénitude after seven years maturation on lees; the second Plénitude between eleven and twenty years; and the third beyond twenty. From one Plénitude to the next the Dom Pérignon “Power of Creation” grows in the secret of the cellars. Dom Pérignon P2, is the Plénitude of energy.

The process is the expression of a true vision of wine and authentic work of its architecture. The Chef de Cave, Richard Geoffroy, is the master.