LCBO Food and Drink Holiday 2016

TASTING NOTES “The mousse has more action on the tongue than the Cristal,” Igor confirms, “but it’s still very fine. And though those aromas are assertive they aren’t in any way brash. Dark fruit… Rye bread instead of brioche. Creaminess, hazelnuts and, at the very end, the faintest hint of the scent of olive oil.” An elusive genius, the Dom, but this wine will repay any attention you can give it, of- fering up endless nuances. As the original Dom Pierre Pérignon, cellar master of the Abbey of Hautvillers until 1715, reputedly remarked when he first sipped the sparkling wine he had made, “Come quickly! I am drinking the stars!”

dom pérignon brut vintage champagne 2006 VINTAGES ESSENTIALS 280461, $231.95

“The Cristal was subtler, like a painting done with pastels,” says Igor. “Dom Pérignon is in full, bright colour.” It’s probably the most famous of all Champagnes, first marketed by Moët & Chandon in 1936 (it was the 1921 vintage) to be the nonpareil of luxury. Traditionally a roughly equal blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the finest, sunniest sites, it has become a separate entity inside—or even outside— Moët & Chandon, preferring to sell itself with mystique and abstract impressions rather than factual data. Bold but refined, opulently silky, with a surprising, pleasantly bitter suggestion…

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