"Venturing below ground into the winding warren of subterranean caves where @domperignonofficial has stored its wine for several centuries, the atmosphere is cool and calm. These cellars were first built at Hautvillers in the 1600s by the monk Dom Pierre Pérignon, for whom the house is named. A pioneer of champagne production, his influence can be felt throughout these timeless and secluded surroundings. Here, where the fast-paced bustle of real life feels far away, I slowly savour my first taste of Dom Pérignon’s 2004 Plénitude 2. Refusing to rush things is fundamental to the maturation process that rewards us with vintage champagne. At Dom Pérignon, this typically takes 8-10 years. For each vintage, however, a limited number of bottles are kept back for an even longer maturation period of up to two decades and eventually released as Plénitude 2, or “the second life of Dom Pérignon”. Every year that the yeast, which is originally introduced to ferment the wine, is left to continue interacting in the bottle, the champagne becomes rounder and gains complexity. As I tip back my glass, I can detect elegant citrusy notes that are more clearly defined than in the vintage with an elevated minerality." In our bio, Jo Lawson-Tancred visits Champagne to savour the new Dom Perignon Plenitude 2 vintage