Tasting Notes
Robert Parker – 96
In a strange way, this rose has a similar personality to the Dom Perignon 1969 tasted in tandem. Its aromatics are hewn from rock ” Alpine fresh flecked with Morello and wilted rose petals. The palate is crisp and tense with superb acidity, understated at first but building towards a refined finish of rosewater and blackcurrant leaf. This is just a beautiful champagne that shimmers with tension and refinement, one almost too delectable to cellar. Tasted November 2012.
Vinous – 97
Dom Pérignon’s 1996 Rosé is one of my all-time favorite Champagnes, but I have never tasted it this way, nor has anyone else in the room. Three bottles of the 1996 Rosé are lined up; a standard fifth, magnum and jeroboam. We are all quite curious to taste the three wines, as they were all released at different times. It is quite common for Champagne houses to vary the level of dosage according to the bottle size and release date, but DP is notoriously tight-lipped on such matters, so it is impossible to know for sure. The jeroboam is opened first. It is tight as a drum. Over the course of several hours, the wine opens up beautifully and by the end of the dinner it is clearly the most intriguing and complete of the three. I wish I owned more of these, but this is the last. The magnum is great right out of the gate. I adore the magnum format for all wines, but Champagne in particular. This is a fabulous showing. The straight fifth is also surprisingly closed at the outset, but then blossoms quickly. At the first tasting, it is the most impressive of the three bottles but as time passes there is much less development here than in the big bottles. What a fascinating comparative tasting.
