Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon 1976

Imagine my surprise when my friend promised to fetch me a bottle of Cuvée Dom Pérignon 1976 for drinking on Christmas day. This wine had been given to him by a family member decades ago and he had carefully kept it in the cool and dark. When I opened the bottle there was very little partial pressure of carbon dioxide waiting to push the cork out. The shrunken cork had to be twisted and pulled but it came out with little difficulty, which is not always the case with an older champagne. There was none of the hissing our popping sound when a younger vintage is opened. The wine had been chilled to the perfect temperature and the bottle had not been shaken during transport but I was expecting some gas to come out of the bottle; there was nothing that I could hear or feel. We poured the champagne normally and the gas really started to fizz in the glass. All of the carbon di-oxide had dissolved within the wine over its long period of cellaring. The wine produced very fine bubbles. During its maturation the champagne had turned almost golden in colour. It had the typical yeast and bread scent on the nose. It tasted fantastic; it was youthful and fresh with a medium to full body and with well integrated acidity to keep it as fresh as when it was first bottled. The flavours were complex and concentrated; more concentrated than any other vintage champagne I have tasted. For me it had a creamy and nutty flavour. This champagne was a real honour and treat to open and drink. 1976 was a very hot year but the grapes obviously were able to maintain sufficient levels of acidity to keep this wine fresh 35 years later.
Drinking this made the wine tasting year for me and I shall remember the flavour for a very long time.

Later, for dessert, we drank a bottle of Benoît Lahaye Brut Essential Non -Vintage Champagne as a comparison. This up and coming champagne is much finer tasting and although it will not age as gracefully as the Dom Pérignon it still shows all the typical attributes of a Montagne de Reims appellation.

To buy a bottle of Cuvée Dom Pérignon, now, it will cost you around four hundred pounds. So this wine has appreciated considerably in value over 35 years; but is it worth it ? I think so. It could be kept as an investment. But, surely, wine was made to be drunk and eventually all wine becomes either past its best or ruined from a drinking point of view? There are many thousands of cases hidden away as investments which will never be appreciated by drinkers whilst the wines are at their peak. The 1976 Cuvée Dom Pérignon is now at its peak and we should be able to enjoy it.

Please consider this: expensive personal computers do not improve with age they only deteriorate and quickly become obsolete: they are destined to be thrown away. This is not so with a good bottle of wine.

A good bottle of Montagne de Reims vintage champagne can be bought from a maker such as Benoît Lahaye for much less than one hundred pounds and if it is kept in a cool dark place for twenty years or so it will improve in both flavour and complexity. That is where the true value for money lies. A good wine can also be appreciated across the generations. Patience truly is a virtue as far as some wines are concerned and it could save you a lot of money. Patience will enable you to appreciate the finest wines at a fraction of their cost as a long term monetary investment. So select wisely and keep your wine carefully.

The current retail price for Cuvée Dom Pérignon is around 95 pounds. What will it be worth in in 2037? It will certainly be worth drinking.