Last week, I was lucky
enough to be invited to take part in an intriguing experiment. The brainchild
of Dom Pérignon’s ebullient chef de cave Richard Geoffroy, having entered the
“space ship,” as he called it, we were about to shoot into orbit. Every word
Geoffroy utters has a touch of the cosmic about it. He speaks in long, often
impenetrable sentences, occasionally exciting himself with his own brilliance.
He’s a wonderful showman and hugely entertaining company.
Our space ship turned out to
be the sprawling, 19th century 5* château hotel Les Crayères in
Reims, set in a 17-acre landscaped park. My expansive room was exquisite,
prettified with toile wallpaper, white orchids, scarlet tassels and an ornate
gold mirror above the writing desk. Luxuriating in the opulence of it all, I
flicked though a book on Titian and Tintoretto left on the coffee table,
nibbled the trio of chocolates left out by the maid, then quickly changed for
dinner.
Beginning in the tartan clad
bar with a palate cleansing glass of DP 2003 – a rich, powerful vintage I’m
growing ever fonder of, proceedings quickly moved to the two Michelin-starred
Les Crayères restaurant, a magnificent, chandelier-filled room boasting verdant
tapestries, swagged curtains and a grand dining table cutting through it. Taking
my seat, Geoffroy sprung into action. “I believe temperature has a profound
effect on the flavour profile of Champagne,” he offered.
In order to test this theory out, we were to be guinea pigs in a temperature control experiment with the 1996 vintage of DP Oenothèque – one of the best Champagne vintages in recent history. Titled IV-VIII-XVI, the experiment would explore the effect temperature has on the expression and characteristics of Oenothèque ‘96, degree by degree, by slowing down the maturation process of the Champagne and suspending it in its various states for as long as possible.
Over the course of two
hours, eight different dishes, from bracing saline oysters in a seawater
granita, and rich, creamy mussel soup, to tea smoked basmati rice with mushroom
tobacco, and an almond-flecked lamb tagine, were served to compliment the aroma
and flavour differences in the wine at each of the eight stages. With the room
temperature set at 20 degrees, we were poured a bottle of Oenothèque ‘96
(disgorged in 2008) into four glasses set in an open topped box with chilled
panels to slow down the temperature increase of the wine.
The wines were then tasted
every 15 minutes, from left to right and then right to left, with the wine raising
in temperature from eight to 15/16 degrees by the end of the night, revealing
eight different 15-minute aromatic sequences. Fascinatingly, there were perceptible
differences in the wine at each of the eight stages, moving from mineral at 8º,
honeyed at 9º, zesty at 10º, buttery at 11º, earthy at 12º, truffly at 13º, smoky
at 14º, and nutty at 15/16º.
During the dinner, I made
the comparison between the different stages of seduction. At its coldest, the
wine was shy and tight – fully clothed if you will. But as the evening drew on
and the temperature increased, it began to reveal itself,
opening up and becoming more confident and expressive at every stage, moving from steely and
mineral, through a wonderful citrus stage and an earthy autumnal period, and
finally emerging into its full nutty, honeyed glory.
“I decided to do this
because I wanted to push the boundaries of experimentation to lead me to a new
understanding of the mysteries of the wine,” Geoffroy revealed at the end of
the night, amid declarations that he’s moving into the world of fine and rare
tea and is working on a high profile celebrity hook-up that he can’t reveal
yet. Which did he think was the ultimate temperature to enjoy Dom Pérignon at
its fullest expression? “12 degrees; there’s truth in that temperature.”
wow what an amazing experience.
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