On a beautiful summers day Lucie Pereyre de Nonancourt flew to Stockholm to share a magnum of the latest creation Laurent-Perrier ‘Grand Siècle Les Réserves Cuvée’ no. 20 with Richard Juhlin & Björnstierne Antonsson @ restaurant Operakällaren.
Recreating the perfect year
Vintage in Champagne is usually synonymous with excellence for Prestige Cuvées. Contrarily, Laurent-Perrier has always been convinced that only the art of assemblage can offer what nature can never provide: the perfect year.
The expression of the perfect year is that of a great Champagne wine that over time has developed a depth, intensity and aromatic complexity, yet maintains its freshness and acidity. To create such a wine, Laurent-Perrier will rely on the characteristics of the great vintage years of Champagne: freshness, structure and finesse.
Grand Siècle’s assemblage is based on 3 principles that have now become immutable;
- A blend of 3 exceptional years, complementary in character. This specific blend is 1999 (60%), 1997 (20%) and 1996 (20%).
- A blend with a majority of Chardonnay supplemented by Pinot Noir and selected among 11 of the 17 existing Grands Crus in Champagne.
- A blend benefiting from more than 10 years of ageing in the Cellars.
Laurent-Perrier ‘Grand Siècle Les Réserves Cuvée’ no. 20
44pn 56ch
This tasting note is from a magnum which was disgorged in june 2021.
‘Already when I tasted this wine newly disgorged at Laurent-Perrier in 2019, I understood its somewhat unexpected greatness. Today under the Les Réserves label and still somewhat later disgorging with perfectly balanced dosage, this is the most stylistically perfect Grand Siècle ever made. There are a few editions that are more monumental and more grandly impressive, but none that exhibit such perfection in typicality.
The wine is simply a dream-like creation on the magnum which is actually more characterized by the reserve wine from 1996 than the majority wine from 1999. Cracklingly sublime toastiness, purity and lime-dominated acidity, but also an explosively euphoric acacia florality with splashes of jasmine, linden blossom and white chocolate. Of course with an otherworldly chalk-scented purity and the sun-dried linen in the early summer wind as a signature.’
98(98)p
Richard Juhlin
