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FROM SEAFOOD TO SNOWBOARDING

Champagne Pommery has a busy summer ahead once again, with sponsorship

tie-ins including food, music and alpine bars. A seafood and • zz theme kicked

o† with the Pommery Dorset Seafood Festival in mid-July, with another chance

to indulge at Whitstable Oyster Festival, where Pommery is the exclusive

Champagne partner, running until 2 August. Elsewhere, Pommery will be

‰ owing at the British Summer Time music festival in Hyde Park on 22 to 24

July, followed by an exclusive partnership with snow sports and music festival

Freeze, taking place at London's Battersea Power Station from 14 to 17 October.

CHAMPAGNE

SPECIAL

Aged to

PerfectionGenerally thought to be one

of the best vintages of the past

two decades, 2002 is admired for

its balance and potential longevity.

While most houses have already

released 02s, Billecart-Salmon held

its Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart

2002 back and gave it the extra

ageing it merits. Partly vini• ed in old

oak barrels - for further complexity

rather than overt oakiness - this is

biscuity and rich, with notes of orange

zest and spice adding highlights to

• ne textural complexity.

£138, Harvey Nichols; £500 (6 bottle case

in bond), Berry Bros ‚ Rudd

Celebrating

2005

Dom Pérignon chef de cave Richard

Geo� roy has released the latest Blanc

Vintage 2005 from a year that split

the region's houses as to whether to

release a vintage wine. A cool, wet

September followed an August

heatwave, but good weather for the

harvest allowed those that picked

with care, focusing on optimum

maturity, to make rich and

structured wines.

Dom Pérignon's Blanc Vintage

2005 reveals quite forward,

rich black fruit aromas, with

a concentrated, dense, toasty

palate, lined with a lingering

minerality.

£130; Harrods, Hedonism Wines,

Jeroboams

Under PressureTo assess the e� ect of tide, temperature and water pressure on

Champagne, in June 2013 Drappier submerged 50 cases of its wine

to a depth of 17 metres in Brittany's St-Malo bay. According to owner

Michel Drappier, the idea came from a wine merchant customer

called Yannick Heude, who has stored various wines under the sea.

Acidic whites fared best and other marques of Champagne also

succeeded. At that depth, the environment is dark, a constant 9-10°C

and the bottles move gently with the tide, accelerating the maturing

process, says Drappier. The pressure is similar to the 6bars inside the

bottle. He kept a similar amount of Brut Nature Réserve, the identical

blend disgorged on the same day, for comparison and believes the

submerged wines are better and have a "nice evolution".