Cadogan launches £25,000 Champagne bath

Knightsbridge hotel the Cadogan has launched a Champagne bath menu in time for Valentine’s Day, and is offering a Dom Pérignon 2002 bath for £25,000. As reported on thedrinksbusiness.com, the 122-bottle Champagne bath starts at £4,000 for a soak in Louis de Custine Brut 1998. Available to hotel guests from 14 February, and running for a year, while the bath is drawn, an optional “bath butler” will be on hand to pour the submerged guest a one of six complimentary bottles offered with the service, and serve chocolate covered strawberries.

Along with Dom Pérignon and Louis de Custine Brut, customers can choose from the Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut 2002 bath for £6,000, the Perrier-Jouët Blason Rosé 2004 bath for £8,000, or the Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label 2006 bath for £8,000. “We’ve had surprising amounts of interest in the baths already,” the Cadogan’s sales and marketing director Lee Jones said. “Most of the interest has been at the top end. We’ve already had one guest pay the deposit for the Dom Pérignon bath,” Jones added.

The service, which can also be booked by external customers, was devised by recently-appointed general manager Will Oakley as the “ultimate indulgence” to mark the five star hotel’s 125th anniversary. Shortly after opening in 1887, the hotel served as the setting for actress Lillie Langtry’s courting of the future King Edward VII. Oscar Wilde was also famously arrested in room 118 in 1895.

LVMH profit boosted by wine and spirits

The world's largest luxury goods group, LVMH, reported a 1% rise in 2011 net profit this week, as the company continues to show strong growth in its wine and spirits division, despite economic uncertainty in Europe. As reported on the drinks business, the group’s net profit topped €3 billion as sales jumped 16% last year, driven mainly by spending in Asia. "I'm going to be a bit repetitive because 2011 was an excellent year like 2010, and like I hope 2012 will be," said chief executive Bernard Arnault.

"After an exceptional 2011, LVMH is well-equipped to continue its growth momentum across all divisions in 2012. Its strategy will remain focused on developing brands through strong innovation, quality and expansion in high potential markets," he added. The French group’s portfolio includes Champagne brands Dom Pérignon, Krug, Veuve Clicquot and Moët & Chandon, Château d’Yquem in Sauternes, and Château Cheval Blanc in St Emilion. It also owns Glenmorangie and Ardbeg whiskies, and Belvedere vodka.

LVMH's robust performance sets high expectations for the luxury goods industry. "It's somewhat of a paradox to say that 2011 was a year of global prosperity, but we are lucky to export most of our products," Arnault said. The company’s latest figures show that the European debt crisis hasn't triggered a slowdown in the US. In the fourth quarter, sales in Europe rose 3%, but the strongest growth came from the US and Asia, excluding Japan.

Arnault doesn't see an end to LVMH's good fortune. "Barring a major accident and despite the difficulties in Europe, the world economy is growing and the world wants more and more of our products," he said. The company’s fashion division, which includes brands such as Louis Vuitton, Bulgari and Dior, also showed strong growth.

Richard Geoffroy, Dom Pérignon

Wine and the City talks to Richard Geoffroy, chef de cave of Dom Pérignon, at the DP 2003 launch in London, about Dom Pérignon and food matching, the myth that acidity in wine is linked to ageing, the forthcoming Rosé 2002 launch, and why the Champagne flute is dead.

Dom Pérignon 2003 launched in five cities

Last week, as reported on thedrinksbusiness.com, Champagne giant Dom Pérignon hosted five simultaneous international events in London, Hong Kong, Paris, New York and Tokyo, to launch its 2003 vintage – a controversial release due to the extreme heat of the year. With each event linked by satellite, chef de cave Richard Geoffroy introduced the wine Star Wars-style via hologram, appearing as an electric blue spectral figure and answering questions on the vintage from the five cities in turn.

“Everyone was expecting a very powerful, sun-filled and rapidly maturing wine – a real challenge for the creation of Dom Pérignon,” Geoffroy told us. “It was a risk, which may be rewarded now. It’s at the heart of the house’s values – we’re committed to vintage Champagne. My wish is for Dom Pérignon 2003 to remain one of the greatest examples of the vintage in the history of Champagne.”

Guests in London gathered at the über swish Phillips de Pury auction house in St James’s, where black-and-white stills of the Dom Pérignon vineyards in Hautvilliers were projected onto the whitewashed walls, along with an up-to-the-second Twitter feed from invitees across the five cities. In between sips of the freshly released ’03, we were treated to whipped truffled egg, caviar on beetroot jelly, and seared foie gras.

The 2003 vintage left an indelible mark on the region. After a cold, harsh winter, the initial warmth of spring proved deceptive. On 11 April a severe frost destroyed up to 75% of the Côte des Blancs Chardonnay crop. The unseasonal spring was followed by a heat wave as the region experienced its hottest summer for 53 years, resulting in the earliest Champagne harvest since 1822.

Undeterred, Geoffroy embraced the challenge: “At no moment in time was there any question of giving up. Instead, we seized the opportunity to create the 2003 vintage,” he said, adding, “Intensity is the signature 2003. It’s unique and paradoxical, hovering between austerity and generosity. It has tremendous ageing potential, but is also very enjoyable now as it’s so expressive.” Commenting on the 2011 vintage, Geoffroy was less upbeat: “2011 was less spectacular than 2003, it will be hard to predict how it will mature.” Dom Pérignon 2003 will be available in the UK from February 2012 with an RRP of £120.

In the cellar with Julian Sands

Wine and the City chats to English actor and ardent wine lover Julian Sands in his (makeshift) cellar at home in Kent about wine and poetry, what he cracked open at Christmas, and the joys of old Champagne.

Champagne tasting at Leiths

What better way to celebrate election night than with Champagne. After work I hoofed it to the Leiths School of Food and Wine in Stamford Brook for a Champagne tasting hosted by fizz expert Richard Bampfield MW.

Six wines were on show, opening with Laurent Perrier Brut NV, paired with smoked salmon bagels. Bampfield was full of historical nuggets about Champagne – 90% of Champagne produced is non vintage and traditionally most wines made in the region were red and used for mass.

Bampfield went on to explain the different styles, from the bone dry ultra brut (a notch drier than extra brut), to the slightly sweet demi-sec. We tried a non vintage premier cru extra brut from unsung producer Larmandier-Bernier, which I found slightly austere and severe. It even tasted dry, with bitter lemon and sour apple on the palate.

Moving swiftly on, we compared a blancs de blanc – Legras Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru, Chouilly NV with a blancs de noir: Bollinger Special Cuvée Brut NV. It was interesting thinking of the two Champagnes in terms of their grape varieties, and trying to spot their differences. The Chardonnay-fuelled Legras was lighter and more feminine than the Pinot-dominant Bolly, with a fragrant nose of lemon meringue.

The Bollinger was immediately striking for its golden colour and powerful nose of alluring autolytic notes: buttered toast, brioche and biscuit. Bollinger is my favourite Champagne - I adore its distinctively rich character. The hallmark of good Champagne is that you don't notice the fizz, which is true of Bollinger and other greats like Krug and Dom Pérignon; they feel more like still wines than Champagnes.

Interestingly, Bampfield pointed out that in blind tastings it's virtually impossible to pick out individual Champagne houses, except for Bollinger, which has a signature style. I asked if he thinks the dramatic discounting that took place around Christmas will damage the Champagne brand. 'I don't think so. Champagne is so strong, it has survived savage discounting before and will survive this time round. Nothing can touch its position in the sparkling wine market'.

Moving on to the final two wines, we got talking about the vintage vs non vintage argument. Bampfield recommends buying non vintage Champagne and laying it down for 18 months. 'All non vintage Champagne benefits from a year or two of bottle ageing', he said, singling out the non-malolactic Lanson Black Label NV as a particularly good example offering fantastic value.

The penultimate Champagne was the trophy-winning Chanonine Vintage 2002. It's easy to see why it won an award - an attractive golden colour, it had bags of flavour with a fragrant, feminine nose and a punchy, toasty, brioche palate. Rich, masculine and robust, it makes a big first impression. Bampfield pointed out that it's hard to award subtlety in wine competitions, meaning a lot of incredibly well made wines fall short of the mark due to the sterile tasting conditions competition wines are subjected to.

Our final wine was Moet & Chandon Grand Vintage 2003, which, according to Bampfield, changed the game in terms of vintage rosé Champagne. It had an attractive orange hue, and was very light, fresh and fruit-forward on the palate - with strawberries, raspberries and summer fruits in the mix. The session ended with Bampfield urging us to experiment with Champagne and take it beyond the confines of the aperitif, with scallops, oysters, lobster and Pecorino cheese all named checked as great food matches.

We were all given a miniature bottle of LP to take home, which I cracked open while watching the election coverage, calling it a night at 1am. I turned on the TV at 7am expecting to see a newly-crowned Prime Minister, but nothing appeared to have been decided. And it still hasn't.

Fortnum & Mason: Dom Pérignon & jamón

There is possibly only one thing better than drinking Dom Pérignon 2000 on a Monday evening, and that's drinking Dom Pérignon 2000 with Joselito Gran Reserva ham, or jamón as I prefer to call it.

Fortnum & Mason had laid on a tasting of the latest 'vintage' of Joselito – 2007 – alongside millennium vintage Dom Pérignon and, as a comparison, 2006 Joselito. The two brands are more similar than you might think. Joselito is in the top tier of Iberico ham producers – a first growth of the ham world occupying the same sort of niche in its field as Dom Pérignon does Champagne, with an 'off the leg' slice price of £200/kg and an 8kg ham going for £600 a pop.

So do Dom Pérignon and jamón make for a match in gourmet heaven? You wouldn't think so, but they go surprisingly well. Neither dominates the other. The ham seems to bring out the freshness of the Champagne and tempers the acidity, while the wine cuts through the fat of the ham and cleanses the palate.

It was fascinating to compare the jamón 'vintages'. After tasting a few slithers of each, you quickly become aware of the vast differences between the two. The younger 2007 vintage was lighter in colour and more translucent. Fine as silk with marbly flesh, its delicacy and refinement proved a better platefellow for the DP than the richer '06.

The 2006 was noticeably darker - ham ages the opposite way to wine, gaining colour with age and turning from light red to dark purple at its oldest. The '06 was almost purple and had a much stronger, more intense flavour. Fattier, meatier and richer, you could taste the maturity. It had a delicious umami-rich savouriness that would pair wonderfully with a bone dry Fino or Manzanilla.

How good a ham tastes depends on three things: the breed, the feed and the ageing process. Hams are cured in cellars for varying lengths of time depending on their size. Joselito is aged for a minimum of three years and a maximum of seven. The heavenly ham, known as pata negra, comes from black Iberico pigs raised in south-west Spain. In order to be called Iberico, the pigs must have at least 75% Iberico blood, but Zac Innes, Brindisa's maestro cortador, assures me that Joselito only use 100% Iberico pigs.

The best hams, known as 'bellota', are fed acorns for their last few months, which impart a nutty sweetness to the jamón. The acorn harvest begins anytime between September and November, at which point the pigs are fattened up in a process called montanera, where they eat around 80% 0f their body weight in acorns over four months. But Iberico pigs are notoriously fussy and will only sniff out the best acorns to munch on.

Like wine, Iberico ham operates under a DO system, with four DOs currently in place in Salamanca, Extremadura, Huelva (home to the ham town of Jabugo) and Córdoba. The trend for Iberico ham is growing – earlier this year Harrods opened 5J Iberico Ham House, a restaurant dedicated to the marbled meat complete with in house 'maestro cortador' (master cutter).

Despite its rise in popularity, Iberico ham is sill very much a luxury product, making up only 5% of the Spanish ham market. Quality comes at a price – a pack of Joselito Gran Reserva will set you back £20, but the ham is at the top of its game and offers a melt-in-the-mouth taste that can't be copied – accept no imitations.

Dom Pérignon 2000 tasting note: attractive pale lemon colour with floral aromas and a light lemon lift. Subtle and refined, it showed elegance and finesse on the palate with wonderful freshness and delicate buttered biscuit aromas. Crisp, airy and rich in the mouth with honeyed nuances, the wine was surprisingly youthful for its nine years and had a long refreshing finish. Devastatingly drinkable.