Marilyn Monroe and Dom Pérignon champagne by Arden Fine Wines.
Marilyn Monroe famously favoured Dom Pérignon Champagne, particularly the 1953 vintage.
She routinely ordered the luxury bubbly by the case from Los Angeles wine merchants.
Original sales receipts from 1962 (such as from Pearson’s Brentwood Fine Liquors) show that purchasing cases of Dom Pérignon was a regular occurrence for the actress.
One of these receipts was sold at an auction in Los Angeles in December 2009:
“A Marilyn Monroe receipt for Dom Perignon champagne, 1962.
One yellow and one pink carbon copy from Briggs on San Vicente Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Dated “6/18/62;” noting MM’s name, her Brentwood address, and the purchase of her favorite bubbly “Dom Perign Champ” for “$14.43.”
When photographer Bert Stern attempted to convince Marilyn to do a nude shoot for Vogue, he successfully wooed her with a room at the Bel-Air Hotel, a supply of 1953 Dom Pérignon, and Frank Sinatra music.
A brief history of Marilyn Monroe and Dom Pérignon
A precursor to Dom Pérignon appeared in 1935 as a one-off gift of no particular style or, indeed, name.
The producers presented it in the same replica 18th-century bottle we know today.
It also bore its equally recognisable shield-shaped label with vine shoots and grape bunches lining the sides.
The vintage was 1926, but they gave it no name as such.
They just called it “Champagne specially shipped for Simon Brothers & Co’s Centenary 1835–1935.”
Simon Brothers represented Moët & Chandon in London.
They sent a hamper containing two bottles of this special Champagne to 150 of its best customers.
When Moët’s American customers heard about this, they wanted some, too.
Moët duly obliged the following year, when they shipped 200 cases of the great 1921 vintage to New York.
These bottles, however, carried the Dom Pérignon brand, thus they officially launched Dom Pérignon in the USA in 1936.
Finally, you can find this Dom Pérignon 2004 price at Arden Fine Wines.
The Chefs de Caves of Dom Pérignon
Since its first vintage, Dom Pérignon has had seven chefs de caves (winemakers):
- Ernest Goubault (1921–36)
- Charles Goubault (1936–44)
- André Tournier (1944–49)
- René Philipponnat (1949–76)
- Dominique Foulon (1976–90)
- Richard Geoffroy (1990–2018)
- Vincent Chaperon (2019 to now)
Philipponnat was the first chef de cave to put his mark on Dom Pérignon.
This effectively made him the architect of this great Champagne.
Almost all of the vintages he produced were outstanding, with 1952, 1953, 1955, 1961, 1962, 1964, and 1966 the best of his best.
Dom Pérignon’s style emerged only when Philipponnat laid down the four pillars of its construction: vintage, origin, varietal profile, and extended yeast-ageing.
He started building a core terroir of the ripest lieux-dits in nine crus (eight grands crus, Aÿ, Bouzy, Verzenay, Mailly, Chouilly, Cramant, Avize, and Le Mesnil, plus Hautvillers, which is only a premier cru, but these specific plots are quite exceptional and, of course, historical).
This increased the ripeness of the wine, giving Dom Pérignon’s characteristic richness and mouthfeel that we recognise to this day.
Perhaps the best-known characteristic of Dom Pérignon is its 50/50 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir profile.
This has never been a matter of exact proportions, but a seamless balance where one variety melts into the other.