🍾 Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle

Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle is a non-vintage white Champagne from the house Laurent-Perrier in Tours-sur-Marne (Marne).

According to the house, Grand Siècle is its prestige cuvée: instead of a single year, the house blends three exceptional years to express a "perfect year". It is mostly Chardonnay with Pinot Noir from at most 11 Grands Crus, aged 10 years on the lees in bottle (longer in magnum), and released as numbered Iterations; since 1959 there have been 27 in bottle and 24 in magnum.

The house Laurent-Perrier is based in Tours-sur-Marne; it was founded in 1812 by André-Michel Pierlot and has been run by the de Nonancourt family since 1939.

The boundaries of the Champagne area were set by a law of 6 May 1919: parts of the Marne, Aube, Aisne, Haute-Marne and Seine-et-Marne departments. The designation’s specification allows seven grape varieties, dominated by Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier; grapes are picked as whole bunches, that is by hand, and the yield is limited to 10,400 kg per hectare.

According to the Comité Champagne, Champagne is served chilled to 8–10 °C, and bottles are kept in the dark at a steady 10–15 °C, without vibration. An opened bottle is best closed with a sparkling-wine stopper and kept cold.

It is sold under the protected designation of origin Champagne: the bubbles come only from a second fermentation in the bottle, and the wine is aged for at least 15 months before sale (36 for vintage). Check the label for the sugar term (brut, extra brut and so on): the house does not state it on the wine's page.

Why it matters to you. According to the house, it comes in: a 0.75 l bottle and a 1.5 l magnum. No year on the label means it is not a vintage wine: the house may blend wines from different harvests. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.