Matching a drink with a destination can, if the match is good, turn the experience into something entirely different and greater than expected. I was actually a bit disappointed to go to Iceland to drink champagne – my preconceived notion was that the bubbles would have been more fitting at home. I was wrong.
The Icelandic landscape is barren, and filled with magic and mysticism. At the same time, there is a strength within the population mixed with bitterness over the new course the economic crisis has put the country in. The driver taking me out to the Luxury Adventure Hotel tells about how he has lost his house and wife, but that he at the same time feels lucky to be debt-free. He feels a loathing towards the politicians, the scandals and the fiddling, whilst at the same time he doesn't want to leave the fairy-tale island. Hunting and fishing are two big interests.
"In nature, when it gets dark, it's easy to see things, easy to believe those tales," he explains to me, this tall man full of so many different facets.
Excitedly, I check in at Ion Luxury Adventure Hotel, and I rush out to the pool. The bottom of it is covered in green algae and my first association with champagne becomes the dark green bottle. The water smells of minerals. I stay there for quite a while and meet Maria from Spain, Eric from France and Radim from Germany, who all also plop into the pool. We are all invited to be at the launch of Dom Pérignon P2 Vintage 1998.
But just like the wait that champagne is subjected to, we go through a certain wait, or perhaps rather a build-up – in a slightly different way. We are invited to a welcome drink together with the sparkling and charismatic Richard Geoffroy, Chef de Cave at Dom Pérignon. Corks from bottles of the 2004 vintage are opened with soft pops, and we wash down the elegant drink. The sun sets, and the wait for tomorrow begins.
If you want to travel around Iceland, there's a road that's 1,340 miles long which takes you around the island. We're not taking the long route this time, but instead travelling towards the Seljalandsfoss waterfall. The journey takes a few hours, and once we arrive, the green bottles from the 2004 vintage are once again poured into generous wine glasses. We go around, behind, and almost into the waterfall – it's a bit like being part of that bubbly activity happening in the glass. Greenery, rocks, bubbles, and at the same time, absolutely magical.
We'll go to the end of the road, in large SUVs. The road is closed, we are waved past the barriers. That four-wheel-drive setting is activated, we go up and down slopes and hills. And then all of a sudden we arrive at the Gígjökull glacier. Fires are burning, we are told not to go under the ice sheet hanging over the mountain edge. Richard is waiting for us. He is excited and actually looks a bit taken aback. The particular version of Dom Pérignon that is now to be presented has previously been known as Oenotheque, but from now on it will simply be called P2.
Now is the time. The wind picks up, glass shatters. New glasses are brought out. Richard talks about the wine, its energy, intensity, deep colour and minerals. It's fragrant, warming and tingly. The taste of the minerals from the pool, the warm fire, the dripping glacier and those never-ending bubbles – now even less so than those we previously experienced at the waterfall – pass my lips. The environment and the wine are a perfect match – rugged, magical, contrasting and at the same time naturally elegant. It's hard not to want more, but before dinner, a helicopter ride and an interview with Richard Geoffrey must be squeezed in. He is still excited when we meet in the bar.
– The wine’s minerality was perfectly matched by the dramatic shifts in the weather. For me, this is one of the best wines during my time at Dom Pérignon. The wine has a tactile feel and a fantastic viscosity, while still being highly recognisable.
Richard looks humbly at his job, as the one ultimately responsible for what finally ends up in the bottles that reach the market. He believes he merely manages a legacy as Chef de Cave at Dom Pérignon. While nature and waiting for the wine to develop are natural parts of the job, everything happens in parallel, and blending, creating, and meeting people are part of this.
– For me, wine is about encountering oneself, and when I think about the concept of luxury in the future, it will be about sharing – perhaps a bottle of wine, perhaps an experience. Or if I get to choose, both.
The day turns to evening and we check into a magical private villa to enjoy a ten-course dinner created by Icelandic chef Gunnar Karl. Carrot, shrimp, lamb tartare, cod, bread, and truffle are some of the ingredients to match the P2 1998 being poured into our glasses. The evening is magical, I sit opposite Richard and observe how he seems to soak up both the wine and the atmosphere. The sun sets, a classical concert begins outside, drawing us out into fairy-tale land.
The aperitif before the P2 was presented was a glass of 2004 vintage champagne, enjoyed in front of and underneath the Seljalandsfoss waterfall, Yvonne Gull alongside Arnaud de Saignes from Dom Pérignon's creative marketing department in Paris.
