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To my knowledge, the first time that I had anything notable in common with Louis XIV was when I tasted a sparkling wine from the Champagne region called Dom Pérignon. The transporting glory of the famous 1996 Vintage was an early glimpse into a rarefied world for the callow youth that I was on that rainy day in Brittany, all those years ago. The desire to conquer the peak of any craft attracts contenders.

The older the craft, the more sophisticated the attempts at the summit. In the world of food and drink, sheer subjectivity keeps the debate alive as to which brands get the closest but it is widely agreed that Dom Pérignon is among those that touch the heavens. Although not the first to conceive of the beverage, the Benedictine Monk whose name the wine carries was a pioneer of techniques that together have helped to propel Champagne into the global position it holds today.



Until relatively recently, Dom Pérignon have maintained a tantalising veil of secrecy over the inner workings and philosophies of their letting the nectar do the talking. I am told that under current Vincent Chaperon’s predecessor and mentor Richard Geoffroy, ‘secrecy gave way to mystery’, whereby details on the inner workings of the were drip-fed to the yet still scarce. In our postmodern age of the image, the clamour for Dom Pérignon to lift the lid has only intensified and finally, on accepting the vaunted mantle four years ago, Chaperon decided to allow the eyes and ears of the world into.

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