Dom Pérignon, Cuvée William Deutz and La Grande Dame

Julia and I have a tough life. We recently had to taste our way through these three verticals of top-of-the-line prestige champagnes. 

DOM PÉRIGNON 

Jancis writes: As I wrote in Champagne magnums – strictly for the young?, Nick Baker of The Finest Bubble is a committed champagne enthusiast. The day before putting on his blind tasting comparison of bottles and magnums of de luxe champagnes he invited four of us to a blind tasting of all five consecutive Dom Pérignons 2002 to 2006 inclusive.

This was a particularly interesting exercise because 2002 is the established star of...