Dom Perignon Premier 2002

A rich and smoky Champagne in a graceful package, with a beautiful, fine-grained texture to it and layers of flavor — biscuit, candied lemon peel, coffee liqueur, chamomile, pine, crystallized honey and wood smoke. This is the haute couture of the Champagne world — all about elegance, texture and attention to detail. Drink now through 2027.

The 2002 Dom Perignon is at first intensely floral, with perfumed jasmine that dominates the bouquet. With time in the glass the wine gains richness as the flavors turn decidedly riper and almost tropical. Ripe apricots, passion fruit and peaches emerge from this flashy, opulent Dom Perignon. The wine’s volume makes it approachable today, but readers in search of more complexity will want to cellar this for at least a few years to allow for some of the baby fat to drop off. Geoffroy describes the vintage as very ripe and adds that some of the Chardonnay showed the ill-effects of the hot growing season in it the somewhat burned, dehydrated fruit that came in that year. This bottle was disgorged in July, 2009. To be released summer 2010. Anticipated maturity: 2012–2032.

Think of standing above a well at the edge of an apple orchard, the cool feel of the earth deepening the bosky scent of the ripening fruit. This wine may take you there, then leave you to contemplate its complexity: full-on limestone-derived power, juicy nectarine and apricot scents, candied lemon and lasting spice, all of it rounded into a supple shape and a subtle mist of a finish. A great vintage of DP, this will age with grace.

The 2002 Dom Perignon is at first intensely floral, with perfumed jasmine that dominates the bouquet. With time in the glass the wine gains richness as the flavors turn decidedly riper and almost tropical. Ripe apricots, passion fruit and peaches emerge from this flashy, opulent Dom Perignon. The wineandrsquo;s volume makes it approachable today, but readers in search of more complexity will want to cellar this for at least a few years to allow for some of the baby fat to drop off. Geoffroy describes the vintage as very ripe and adds that some of the Chardonnay showed the ill-effects of the hot growing season in it the somewhat burned, dehydrated fruit that came in that year. This bottle was disgorged in July, 2009. To be released summer 2010. Anticipated maturity: 2012andndash;2032.

Harmonious and huge, this is bold, vinous Champagne with the fresh pear flavor intensity of a Puligny from a great vintage. Peter Liem commented that the reductive winemaking balanced the weight and ripeness this wine achieved in 2002. For all its size and power, it shows remarkable suppleness and elegance. This is a Champagne with sophistication and discretion, one that will gain from long aging.

A rich and smoky Champagne in a graceful package, with a beautiful, fine-grained texture to it and layers of flavor andmdash; biscuit, candied lemon peel, coffee liqueur, chamomile, pine, crystallized honey and wood smoke. This is the haute couture of the Champagne world andmdash; all about elegance, texture and attention to detail. Drink now through 2027.

Light gold. High-pitched aromas of lemon pith, quince and green apple, with complicating notes of smoky minerals and chamomile. Dry, nervy and very tight, with slow-to-open citrus and orchard fruit flavors and complicating notes of white pepper and buttered toast. Boasts excellent intensity and clarity but shuts down hard on the finish, which features strong mineral and citrus zest qualities and a hint of smoky florality. I tasted this Champagne two other times this fall: one bottle behaved in a similar tart, citric fashion while the other showed more of the classic smoky, reduced character that I associate with young bottlings of Dom Perignon. As this is a fairly recent release, I would rather reserve judgment until next year.