Dom Pérignon food pairing

Since the inception of WINE magazine in October 1993, a magnum of Dom Pérignon Champagne has been awarded to the writer of the most interesting letter published in each issue.

Dom P, as it is fondly known, is an undisputed icon of luxury, so no surprises to find that the brand is owned by LVMH, the world's biggest luxury-goods concern which, in addition to drinks, is active in fashion and leather goods, perfumes and cosmetics, watches and jewellery. Dom Pérignon is made by Moët & Chandon but LVMH likes to treat it as a separate brand and is not readily forthcoming with corporate information, no doubt in an effort to maintain as much mystique as possible.

 

What can be ascertained from various sources is that Dom Pérignon is named after the 17th century Benedictine monk who, according to legend, was the first person to encounter the bubble in Champagne. The brand name was originally registered by a certain Eugène Mercier, who sold it to Moët & Chandon which subsequently used it to designate its prestige cuvée, first released in 1937.

The link to Moët has subsequently been downplayed... The price tag for a standard bottle is steep - Norman Goodfellow's in Johannesburg is selling the 1999 vintage for R1 349 a bottle, while Caroline's Fine Wine Cellar in Cape Town has the just-released 2000 at R1 902 - which means that most of us won't be drinking it too regularly.

Thus, when an invitation was extended to attend an exclusive dinner termed the "7 Sensualities" to mark the launch of the 2000 vintage to be held at Ellerman Villa, the luxury Bantry Bay retreat, I didn't deliberate for long. This was to be no frivolous aff air: dishes had been 18 months in development, while a unique set of cutlery and crockery had been designed specially for these dinners - after the one in Cape Town, everything was due to be packed up and transported to Dubai for another.

The evening was divided up into seven different stages, the food served at each designed to highlight different sensory properties or "sensualities" of Dom Pérignon 2000. It's not always easy to get the Champenoise to talk sensibly about the organoleptic qualities of their products, so I'm not entirely sure I perceived what the organisers were intending to show, but here for your vicarious enjoyment is how the evening unfolded:

PURITY
The first "sensuality" to be explored was the purity of the wine, with three different dishes being served.
Dish 1: Endive leaves on daikon and Hyblon olive oil dyptique
Endive is usually eaten raw in salads and gave a slightly acidic freshness to the dish. Daikon is a Japanese radish which is neutral in flavour but provided crispness. The rigour of the two ingredients was in contrast with the Hyblon oil from Sicily, served frozen, which was vegetal, very rich and full in flavour. The whole feel and taste of the dish was clean, fresh and crisp and complemented the greener flavours of the wine while contrasting with the more yeasty and oak-derived ones.

Dish 2: Rambutan and green mango soup
Rambutan is a kind of "hairy litchi" from Southeast Asia and is appreciated for its sweet, subtly flavoured flesh. Green mango is quite acidic and adds balance to the dish. Here the dish was supposed to emphasise the ripe fruit character of the wine.

Dish 3: Duo of scallop carpaccio
This dish consisted of two versions of raw scallops each with its own dressing. The tender, slightly briny flesh of the scallops revealed the wine's fresh acidity, with its creamy texture also in evidence.

TACTILE
The second "sensuality" to be explored was how tactile the wine was or, put another way, how it "felt" in the mouth.

Kingklip, truffle juice and peach slivers
The kingklip was encased for two hours in sea salt and then rinsed thoroughly under running water before being vacuum sealed with truffle juice. It was then cooked sous vide at a moderate temperature, allowing the fish to absorb the truffle flavour and resulting in a tender and moist final product. The earthy flavours of the fish and truffle were off set by the freshness of the peach slivers. Here the idea was to demonstrate how silky the wine is to drink.

GLOWING
The third "sensuality" to be explored was the generosity of the wine. This, at least as far as I could make out, was about appreciating the wine's fruit expression (again) as well as its mellowness thanks to delayed release.
Grilled eggplant with honey and spices
The eggplant was grilled in olive oil then doused in a marinade of Moroccan honey, lemon juice and a mixture of spices before being cooked in the oven. The warmth and spiciness of the dish aimed to illuminate the wine's richness of maturity.

CARNAL
The fourth "sensuality" to be explored was the power and weight of the wine. The intention was to demonstrate the wine's ability to stand up to quite rich food.
Moroccan squab with semolina (couscous)
It was originally intended that this dish should feature Moroccan squab (domestic pigeon) but quail was used at the Cape Town dinner as local pigeon was considered a bit too gamey in flavour. The dish was served in three special vessels that came stacked on top of one another, allowing guests to unpack their meal and serve themselves. The quail was stuffed with a mixture of onion, garlic and Ras el Hanout, a famous North African recipe which can contain up to 27 different spices from all over the spices-trading regions. With this dish, the wine showed excellent balance, no single facet dominating.

FUSIONAL
The fifth "sensuality" to be explored was the complexity and finesse of the wine.

Caviar, barley with argan oil and saffron ice cream
The dish was served in two bowls, the first containing barley mixed with Argan oil (which is made from the kernels of the Argan tree found in Morocco and has a nutty flavour) and then topped with Prunier Tradition Caviar. This new generation of farmed caviar, of remarkable quality, is from Aquitaine in the southwest of France, produced at freshwater farms in the Garonne River, and was borne of the pressing need to protect wild sturgeon. The other bowl contained the saffron ice cream matched with orange blossom. Combined, the aim of the dish was to bring together as many sensory pleasures as possible in one encounter. Thus the aromas of almond, hazelnut, sweet-smelling saffron and orange blossom as well as briny caviar were meant to find echoes in the wine. Similarly, when it came to texture, the dryness of the barley was in contrast to the creaminess of the caviar and ice cream, and again these recalled different dimensions of the wine.

ETHEREAL
The sixth "sensuality" to be explored was the potential of the wine to age in bottle to good effect.
Coconut ash- puddinga
This dish, consisting of black sticky-rice pudding, is a favourite Thai New Year treat. Aged Dom P is said to show even more pronounced nutty, toasty aromas and that is what this food-and-wine pairing was supposed to illustrate. It has to be said, however, that coconut-ash pudding is very much an acquired taste, and was perhaps the least enlightening part of the evening!

COMPLEX
The seventh "sensuality" saw the wine matched with a cigar - ostensibly to demonstrate once again the wine's complexity.
El Rey del Mundo Petit Corona cigar
As might have been expected, the cigar showed some vegetal character, earthiness and spice, all of which could, in turn, be seen in the wine. However, with this match the organisers were perhaps more successful in reiterating that this bubbly is indeed one of the most desirable brands around. Dom P in one hand, Petit Corona in the other - a lifestyle I could get used to.

Photographs by JM Lederman