A driven and serious DP with aromas of chalk, biscuits, apricot stones and lemons. Some spice and dried flowers, too. So sleek and sophisticated. Elegant. Yet, it’s long and powerful, with a sharp minerality. Tight and precise. Reminds me of bottles from the 1980s, such as 1988. It really takes off. Disgorged October 2021. Drinkable on release in January 2023, but better in a couple of years. A DP for the cellar.

At first, the nose comes across soft and toasty, less on the gunpowder but more on the toasted bread side. A little shy perhaps, but the bouquet is impeccably pure and deliciously fruity once it reveals more of itself after a short while in the glass. There is ripe yellow plum fruit but also a brisk menthol breeze as well as some sweeter, even tropical aromas. All nuances are perfectly integrated and elegantly subtle for the time being, echoing a reservedness speaking of longevity. On the soft cushiony palate, the linearity and vivacity are first to be noted, but soon after one gets charmed by the creamy-caressing texture. The dosage is perfectly balanced at 5g/l. Much racier and perhaps a little more austere than most recent Dom Pérignon vintages, however, this coolly fruity, tight and focused wines has what true longevity takes. It has evolved slowly until now and will be one to defy time. Tasted Jan 2023.

Disgorged in October last year, the 2013 Dom Pérignon is a lovely wine, defined by the long, cool growing season. Offering up aromas of crisp stone fruit, tangerine oil, buttered toast, pear, almonds and clear honey, it's medium to full-bodied, ample and seamless, with bright acids and a pillowy, enveloping profile, concluding with a long, saline finish. Vincent Chaperon recalls that shatter at fruit set moderated yields and that a drying east wind in the weeks before harvest helped to maintain the good sanitation necessary to wait to pick at full maturity. WK Aug 2022

The 2013 Dom Pérignon is quite delicate and understated. It reminds me of the 2004, but with a bit more mid-palate richness and a bit less energy. Apricot, tangerine peel, white flowers, jasmine, mint and light honeyed notes all meld together. There’s lovely vinous intensity as well as a feeling of openness that make the 2013 a delight to taste today. The 2013 doesn’t look to be an epic DP, but it sure is delicious right now. May 2022

Nice enough these days, for the sake of the unusual, we got a classic late harvest that ended in mid-October after a cold and gray winter and spring. The summer was certainly hot, but the budding took place two weeks later than normal and the autumn was cool and rainy. Now that the wine is released nine years after the harvest, I am first and foremost greeted by a bouquet that exudes the classic Dom Pérignon. The aroma composition could not have been anything else. This unique style is perhaps what impresses most in the world's most famous wine. 2013 will never be a heroic wine, nor is it one of the more accessible vintages at launch. No, the beauty lies in a cool charm where everything is a bit shy, but at the same time so incredibly precise and well placed. Hopefully enough people will drink this nice subtle champagne more devoutly than is usual in the luxurious bars and nightclubs where the misunderstood beauty is unfortunately so often sipped. Word of praise this time is balance, harmony, subtlety and purity. The scent is delicate with green notes of tea, gooseberries and basil together with the orange notes of mandarin, orange blossom and apricot. In harmony with these floral and fruity sides, I find a handsome spiciness and mouth-watering salty minerality with an underlying typical roasting. In the mouth, the champagne is radiantly clean and mineral in spite of the always so harmoniously embedded softness and silky creaminess. The finish is obvious and clean with more saltiness and chalky elegance than exoticism this time. I will store my bottles for a really long time as I believe in a linear and beautiful storage development. 2013 Dom Pérignon is restrained beautifully and minimalistic clean as a Japanese garden in spring. July 2023

Intense, lightly spicy nose and then on the palate very smooth-textured, gentle and lifted, with light bitterness on the finish – grapefruit peel? Some lightly vegetal notes and very long. Seamless texture and already very agreeable.
JR Nov 2022 - The 2013 growing season was two weeks late all through, including picking starting as late as 30 September, and 90% of the crop was harvested in October, even later than in 2004 (1988 and 1996 were also late), even though summer was one of the hottest and driest in July and August. Vine leaves were very pale and falling to the ground. Vincent Chaperon was visited by a consultant from the south of France who was amazed by this. Yields were reduced, which was a surprise because they were expecting a big vintage after the small 2012. Quality was very varied and there was some botrytis. The third period of the growing season was two weeks of rain in September. Vines on clay and sand really suffered; less so on chalk, especially the grands crus. Some people started to pick now but the trick was to wait for the lovely weather at the end of September and beginning of October. It was quite warm for the season and some east wind dried out the vines in some places, so some 2013s from lesser sites are not so good. Chardonnay fared better (riper) than Pinot Noir, so the 2013 Dom Pérignon is skewed towards Chardonnay. Total production was about the same as in 2012: lowish, unlike 2004 or 2018. Disgorged October 2021. To be launched at the end of 2022.