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Page 38: A bas-relief depicting Dom Pérignon. Page 39: Vincent Chaperon, Chef Page 40: Above, the vineyards where Dom Pérignon comes from (©️ Pascal Montary).
de Cave since 2019 and with Dom Pérignon since 2005 (©️ Harold de Puymorin). Below, the Abbey of Hautviller where the fame of this precious wine started with a
Courtesy of Dom Pérignon monk called Dom Pérignon (©️ James Bort). Courtesy of Dom Pérignon

“We must intimately know our vineyards and our wines, we have to pamper

them, learn to love them to create assemblages that strive for Harmony.”

Vincent Chaperon

He is the vineyard whisperer, with his hands immersed in the years a vintage will not be declared. Time is an integral part of the
terroir and his heart and mind shrouded in bubbles. He is the man Dom Pérignon equation. The time for maturation on the lees, in the
who listens to the past, controls the present, and looks to the future. darkness of the cellars, allowing each vintage to flourish.”
A modern alchemist, an enologist with a degree in agricultural In doing so, Chaperon nurtures Dom Pérignon’s Patrimoine
engineering. de Création and perpetuates the centuries-old intuition of a
His name is Vincent Chaperon, Chef de Cave for Dom Pérignon. Benedictine monk. An intuition that became legendary. Pierre
He started his journey at the Maison in Éparnay in 2005 and was the Pérignon, cellarer at the Abbey of Hautvillers (in the Marne
protégé of his predecessor, Richard Geoffroy, for several years. department in north-eastern France), could never have imagined
“I am reassured by Vincent’s human and professional values. that champagne would one day become a powerful universal
I am happy he is the one who will take my place,” said the master symbol of excellence and that his name, Pérignon, would become
of his pupil during the handover event on January 1, 2019. “Along synonymous with what he contributed to create.
with technique, there is a human side to him with great depth. He is Because champagne is Dom Pérignon and Dom Pérignon is
someone capable of combining the two hemispheres of the brain,” champagne.
he said to Corriere della Sera. “One of the characteristics that make Dom Pérignon unique,”
Chaperon’s apprenticeship lasted for thirteen years, during says Chaperon, “is its great versatility with food pairings. This
which he tasted, assembled, refined, and followed the wine’s aging. Champagne is a source of inspiration for countless menus and
And he learned to forge his own personal champagne aesthetics. knows how to enhance their qualities.”
Time is important, in life, in work, and in winemaking, especially The former and the current Chefs de Cave share the same
when it comes to such a special wine. Time cannot be bought. purpose. “Aesthetic vision is more important than technique.
As Chaperon explains, “Dom Pérignon’s creative ambition Repetition is the enemy of Dom Pérignon,” said Geoffroy back in the
strives toward Harmony as a source of emotion. In this harmony, day. “You need a literary spirit to do this job really well,” confirms
Dom Pérignon plays out its aesthetic and sensorial values: precision, Chaperon nowadays.
intensity, touch, minerality, complexity and completeness, a way of Maybe because he writes wine or, rather, he composes it.
embracing and sustaining the note. Every creative process faces The artisan with the secrets of experience and the magician
constraints. For Dom Pérignon, this always means a vintage wine. manipulating secrets unknown to most coexist inside him.
An unyielding commitment to express the grapes of a single year, The vintage, born from the best grapes of a single harvest year,
whatever the challenges, even if this means accepting that in some is the ultimate goal. The Chef de Cave predicts, ponders, “writes” its

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