--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Every Dom Pérignon vintage is a one-of-a-kind work of art. Discover more. image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6613dad4a3a77dfb/6a4b527ea09d9f4a2b5e925b/2022-06-120-318-11.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # Every Dom Pérignon vintage is a one-of-a-kind work of art. Discover more.  ## Every vintage of Dom Pérignon is a one-of-a-kind work of art. With its absolute commitment to vintage, Dom Pérignon is a perpetual creation. Bearing witness to every year, each vintage gives a new form to a perennial creative ambition: striving towards harmony as a source of emotion. All harvests are different, resulting in distinct wines, which cellar master Vincent Chaperon artfully blends in order to reach the Maison’s vision of harmony. It’s a 15-month creative process that never ends in the same place, relying on the experience and intuition of the winemakers, plus a little Dom Pérignon mystery. To reveal the creative process behind every Dom Pérignon vintage, the Maison – together with Vincent Chaperon – gave life to Dom Pérignon Pré-Assemblages: a space to explore the journey behind the vintage-to-be before its maturation in Dom Pérignon’s cellar for at least eight years. ## This year’s creative intent: from matter to light. For Dom Pérignon, the act of creation originates in nature’s raw material, elevated to bring out the light of harmony that radiates within the final assemblage. But in 2022, with a changing climate upending 150 years of grape-growing traditions, the winemakers found themselves compelled to improvise in ways they never expected. Weather patterns unlike any they’d ever encountered necessitated that Chaperon and his colleagues rely on their creative instincts to craft a vintage that would embody the year’s distinctiveness. The 15-month adventure through the seasons began in early 2022, while the vines were still dormant, recovering from the year before. Together, Chaperon and the Dom Pérignon team waited anxiously for April, when the Maison’s pinot noir and chardonnay grapevines would emerge from their winter hibernation. Even after two decades of being ready for anything, they didn’t know what to expect. When spring dawned warm and sunny, the team breathed a sigh of relief. But as the vines started flowering ten days ahead of schedule, with fewer grape bunches than average, they knew nothing would go as anticipated.  Visiting the Maison’s vineyards, Chaperon was disturbed to notice that they were all growing at different rates. Due to a late burst of cold and rainy weather, some bunches weren’t even ripening evenly, which would make harvesting difficult. Others, due to humidity, had grown too large too quickly, which would hamper the fermentation process. In other words, even if the weather were perfect this summer, each vineyard would have dramatically different needs. Chaperon’s team had to stay vigilant if they were going to get a good harvest. As temperatures climbed throughout July and August, the Champagne region slipped into drought. By mid-August, vineyards that were usually late to ripen were already ready to harvest. However, others that were usually ready first were still weeks away from ripeness. Chaperon realized that he could no longer rely on the usual ways of harvesting grapes. He was going to have to improvise. Working quickly, the team created a new harvest strategy based on these unexpected terroirs, keeping each separate and spreading the process out over a longer period of time. But they didn’t stop there. Because these grapes had grown in such unusual ways, the winemakers decided to ferment them differently, too. For example, in highly tannic grapes, they encouraged natural oxidation, rather than preventing it. By November, Chaperon’s team had created 107 distinctive new wines – 46 chardonnay and 61 pinot noir – that embodied different aspects of the 2022 year.   But creating a Dom Pérignon vintage requires one more, final step: assemblage. This is the ultimate act of creation, when the cellar master blends the best of the year’s wines in order to bring to life the year’s vintage. After the unprecedented 2022 wine-growing experience, Chaperon decided to continue improvising, inventing in real time while integrating essential elements of preparation. He embraced the journey, which depicted the singularity of the year and revealed the unpredictability of nature. He ventured off the beaten track to explore uncharted creative territories, with the help of several oenologists, sparking spontaneous dialogues, improvising like a group of jazz musicians. From this arose two creations: * Improvisation 2022, the unexpected fruit of this collaborative creative session, in which the lights of improvisation shone through to face the challenges of unforeseen climate conditions. * Assemblage 2022, the vintage-to-be. However, the true mystery of Dom Pérignon is that even Chaperon doesn’t know how a vintage will turn out for at least another decade – during which time the wine matures in the Maison’s cellars. All that creativity must wait to be revealed. Fortunately, it can still be celebrated in the meantime. In honor of this groundbreaking year, Chaperon decided it was time to experience another wine created from a similarly hot, dry summer: Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 2009\. After 12 years spent maturing, he decided the wine was ready for its debut at the annual Révélations event, a rendez-vous designed to showcase Chaperon’s creative process and Dom Pérignon’s mystery. “ > Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 2009 is captivating. A wine that is intensively alive, a true incarnation of the fruit of the harvest.” VINCENT CHAPERON  In crafting that reveal, Chaperon drew on the spirit of creativity and collaboration that had driven his recent work. He invited Massimiliano Alajmo and Yoshihiro Narisawa – two renowned chefs whose food is rooted in their ingredients’ terroir – to join him in creating menus to highlight the new rosé at this year’s edition of Révélations in Kyoto and Venice. Tasting the 2009 rosé for the first time, Chaperon and the whole team were thrilled to discover how vibrant and full-bodied it was, a true incarnation of the fruit of the harvest. Far from diminishing the vintage, the uneven weather and hot summer had helped them create a mature, well-balanced wine unlike any other. Whatever 2022 ultimately reveals, it will no doubt be yet another wholly distinctive Dom Pérignon work of art. Dom Pérignon champagne should be enjoyed responsibly by adults over 21. [](https://www.instagram.com/domperignonofficial/) Dom Pérignon’s creative ambition is a perpetual quest for captivating harmony. Every creative process faces constraints. For Dom Pérignon this means creating only vintage wine. An unyielding commitment to bear witness to the harvest of a single year, whatever the challenges, even going as far as not declaring a vintage. [Learn More](https://www.domperignon.com/) Every Dom Pérignon vintage is a one-of-a-kind work of art. 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