“Stsilence of the landscape”. “Energy”. “Vibration”. “Purity”. Above all, “Harmony”. Those that accompany the creative process of a great wine are not free words, when it stops being just wine to become a story, memory, landscape, philosophy. Perhaps this is the deepest meaning of the sixth edition of Pré-Assemblages by Dom Pérignon, in recent days between the Guggenheim Museum and the Carreras Mugica Gallery in Bilbaowhere the maison chose to reveal the 2025 vintage through a simple and revolutionary concept at the same time: that of “Place”.
Bilbao, the importance of the place
The terroirof course, but also the point where space and time meet to generate something unrepeatable. A theme that embraces the vineyard, art, gastronomy. And which finds its perfect embodiment in one of the most significant artistic collaborations of recent years: the one with Tilda Swinton, protagonist of the performance in Bilbao House of Gesture.
As well as “celebrity maxima” at the party event that he transformed Frank Gehry’s masterpiece museum in a three-star restaurant, with a side dish of other stars: Solange Knowles and Alexa Chung, Benedetta Porcaroli and Milena Smit, François Arnaud and Olivier Saillard…
The Abbey of Hautvillers Abbey, in Champagne. ©Dom Pérignon
Eulogy by Tilda Swinton
«At our first meeting in her Scottish home, a home passed down for fifteen generations, after five minutes we understood that the collaboration with Tilda Swinton was inevitable. She is deeply connected to the land” he says chef de cave Vincent Chaperon. Because every Vintage of the maison, like the British actress, it continually changes shape while remaining faithful to its own profound identity. Tilda has played hundreds of characters and often you don’t even realize it’s her. It’s always different.”
A portrait of British actress Tilda Swinton. @Dom Pérignon
Impeccable parallelism: expressing the specificity of time without losing coherence, controlling the tension between change and tradition, is the heart of Dom Pérignon’s philosophy which is revealed more than ever in 2026, with four top vintages: the Vintage 2017, the Vintage Rosé 2010, the very exclusive Vintage Plénitude 2 2008 and the Vintage 2018powerful with a touch of sweetness, the first entirely (and proudly) created by Chaperon: «After twenty years of intense work, Dom Pérignon has become part of me. This wine that has a wild side, but is also welcoming. A tension that best reflects the philosophy of the maison: on the one hand we must let nature express itself. On the other hand, we need to give it a shape.” Four special guests at the reception in Frank Gehry’s masterpiece museum, to accompany the surprising dishes of Eneko Axta and Josean Alija.
The new Vintage 2018 from Dom Pérignon, entirely created by cave chef Vincent Chaperon. @Dom Pérignon
The art of assembly
If Bilbao was the place of celebration, it is where everything began Hautvillers, small village in Champagne where in the 17th century the monk Pierre Pérignon developed the art of assembly. Geography and also history, geology, culture in the round: «Everything in life begins from a place» says Chaperon rightly. Dom Pierre Pérignon dedicated his life to the reorganization and care of the vineyard of the Hautvillers Abbey, convinced that the quality of the wine was born first and foremost from the quality of the vines: «Beautiful vineyards produce excellent wine».
Guggenheim Museum 2 ©FMGB Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa – Photo Erika Barahona-Ede
Centuries later, his motto is still the key phrase. In 2025 the climatic conditions will be extraordinarily favorable they allowed us to clearly observe the character, “the personality” of the individual plots of land. «It was a year in which everything aligned» explained Chaperon alongside Jacques Giraco, general director of the champagne house. After almost twenty years of agronomic work and exceptional adaptation to the challenges posed by climate change, the vineyards have expressed their maximum potential. For the chef de cave, the true paradox of Champagne lies right here: the assembly does not erase the differences, it enhances them. Harmony is a unique that arises from diversity.
Natural balance
Harmony with nature, first and foremost: the agroecological approach involves the protection of biodiversity, the elimination of herbicides, creating habitats for bees and other pollinating insects. And if «today, harvesting in August no longer represents an exception but a concrete opportunity», in these parts, however, «lthe harvest will continue to be manual. The assembly will still require thousands of tastings. The human factor will remain irreplaceable». In short, harmony will remain the fruit of a creative act which in its mystery contemplates change and fidelity together. Novelty and harmony. Just like a great Vintage.