A wedding menu by Albert Adriá and Dom Pérignon

A space of pure Mediterranean architecture for a unique occasion: it's the first time the iconic Maison has unveiled three vintages together. And it's accompanied by a unique menu, designed for the occasion and, as the Catalan chef emphasized, a far cry from his usual fare. "This is a wedding menu," Adrià joked as he revealed the three courses that made up the offering.

But what a wedding, indeed. “Harmony” is Dom Pérignon’s motto for this triple presentation, encompassing its elegant 2017 vintage, the sumptuous 2008 Plenitude 2, and the 2010 Vintage Rosé. Time serves as the common thread in this highly gastronomic range, whose prominence at the table is hard to rival. Therefore, it's a matter of enjoying these exclusive sips, bearing in mind that when any of these bottles is uncorked, all eyes will be on the glass rather than the plate.

Not only because of the weight of what is possibly the most recognized champagne brand in the world —you don't need to understand sparkling wines to know what Dom Pérignon champagnes are and what they mean— but also because of the exclusivity of these three references.

What explains this exceptional triple release? The reason is quite pragmatic and, once again, comes down to timing. According to the maison, the three champagnes, from different vintages and aging periods, have evolved at their own pace, but have all reached the point where they are ready to showcase their full potential. The Vintage 2017 will be available for around €260, the P2 from 2008 will cost around €650 per bottle, while the Rosé Vintage will be priced at approximately €465.

The new era of champagne

Lobster salad, lettuce and green pistachio pesto, Llavaneras peas —so you can tell we're in Maresme— with tucupí sauce from stew and black truffle and a surprising sirloin wrapped in nori seaweed and caviar, which redefines the surf and turf concept in a luxurious way and with a frankly good result.

The finest ingredients in generous portions, with Adrià's technique and creativity here in a discreet background, acknowledging that sometimes the role of the kitchen is simply to complement the champagne. This shouldn't surprise us, because in the world of haute cuisine, a type of customer has long been proliferating who goes to restaurants not for the menu, but for a wine cellar that holds a few highly coveted bottles, for which they are willing to pay whatever it takes.

Some of these dishes also formed part of the tasting menu offered for one night only at the Enigma restaurant in Barcelona, ​​kicking off the series of dinners entitled “Dom Pérignon Dinners – Harmony Edition,” which will tour the world in collaboration with the chefs of the Dom Pérignon Society. This exclusive event, priced at 700 euros per person, transformed the restaurant into the most exclusive in the city for one night.

But returning to this unique Casa Balañà and the imperial table that hosted Adriá's menu, it was —explained Vincent Chaperon, Dom Pérignon's wine chef— about creating a dialogue between the dishes and the wines, celebrating "an encounter between wine, gastronomy and space."

It may sound like that sometimes rather empty rhetoric that is common in the world of oenology, but with a glass of this champagne in hand and under the semi-spherical domes of woven and plant-covered buildings of this house, everything makes much more sense.

“Consistency and diversity, those are the keys to the new era of champagne,” says Chaperon, who, faced with the eternal debate of whether the style should remain untouched or whether each vintage should speak with its own voice, asserts that his champagnes can offer a different facet each year without losing sight of a common philosophy.

The 2017 Vintage perfectly embodies the elegance of that legacy. Complex and fresh, it represents, in a way, the end of an era, we are told, as it is the last vintage blended by the Maison's previous winemaker. Young compared to the 2008 Vintage P2, the house's range that features double aging to demonstrate how well some of its vintages age, it is in excellent form as it approaches its 20th anniversary.

A champagne with mineral notes and that characteristic toasty character of the house, also present in the Rosé Vintage 2010, where all the power of the Pinot Noir is channeled over the years, and which surely represents the most radical champagne in the current range and the one that has changed the most. “It has nothing to do,” Chaperon explains, “with the one we made in 2010; the climate has changed, and so have our viticulture and way of working.”

I wish all weddings had food and drink like this one between Adrià and Dom Pérignon.