A buddy of ours is heavy into the car racing scene, and placing pretty regularly P1 to P3 recently - including a recent win at Daytona - so we joked about setting up a night of the Dom Ps. And he goes out and buys the P3. The joke becomes reality. Outside of my meager wine budget, but me and my other two buddies did grab some P2 and P1 for an epic pairing. With sushi. Wow what a night.
Started with the 1992 P3, deciding on an order of old to young. This wine is flat out gorgeous. Mature, but still exhibiting a fairly powerful early mousse that otherwise did dissipate with some time in the glass. The Chardonnay cut really came to the fore on this bottle as the wine caught air in the glass. Rounded, deep, sensuous. Lush white fruits cut with some citrusy yellows. Toasted nuts and brioche. The nutty profile was quite prolific. Long, layered finish. A very unique expression of champagne. (97 pts.)
The 2002 P2 - my third P2 bottle in the last year or so - was fire. Quite youthful still. Very powerful, rich wine. An Islay Malt of Champagne with its salinity, iodine and a meaty fleshiness. Pears, apples, peaches, like running through a cool orchard patch. This wine is in the zone and has a very long runway. I suspect if they make a P3 out of this vintage, it will top the 1992. An intense wine. (96+ pts).
The 2010 P1 was like the red-headed step child by comparison. Wish I had chosen an 08 or 12 for this pairing, but was a rough week and didnāt have time to assemble things well. This is a really enjoyable champagne, but lacks the precision or depth that you see in 2008, for example. What it lacks there, it exceeds in approachability. A fairly ripe, floral, open vintage. (93 pts.)
As we needed something to pair with the A5 Wagyu, we closed the evening with a 2012 Chateau LāIf, a new St. Emilion from the Thienpont family, owners of Le Pin and VCC. A cepage of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc. Matured in 30% new oak. I like this wine very much, showed a rather cool climate profile with a minty top note, structured profile and still a bit reticent. Needs another 5 years minimum, but I expect the wine to flesh out more. Mostly dark fruit, bark and dry earth and a hint of black truffles. (93+ pts.)
Wish I had the depth of champagne experience to have described these wines better, as I doubt I captured how cool this evening really was, to enjoy and compare three very distinct bottlings of Dom, one of which I had never seen before, the P3. The wine is cost-prohibitive - and frankly, does not make sense - but sure was a treat to experience.
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for himā¦now I donāt know the depths of their relationship, but I say boys, lets be honorable and respect their privacy, keep this one in the trust treeā¦County Squire meets County Law Boyā¦Broken Back Mountain???
