Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle Champagne Tasting With Special Guest Edouard Cossy

"You have only so many bottles in your life, never drink a bad one."
Len Evans

Today, the rage with Champagne aficionados is small grower producers but one of my favorite statements to make about Champagne today is that "there is no BAD Champagne".  There are a lot of great small producers’ Champagnes now available in the U.S.  but some of our old favorites are still making outstanding bubbles like Champagne Laurent Perrier. 

We will be the first to taste the latest release of the Tête de cuvée from this famous Champagne house the “Grand Siècle” which now has an edition number on the bottling.  This great marquee Champagne has always been a blend of three great vintages from 10-12 of the 17 grand cru villages of Champagne but now they will put that information on the label so our “Champagne drinking people” will know which edition of Grand Siècle they are drinking and what three vintages are that are in the bottle. 

Join us as we showcase the newest release of Grand Siècle along with three past releases a few of which will be served from magnum.  The price for this wine tasting which includes dinner is $275 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

Laurent Perrier Grand Siècle Champagne Tasting
With Special Guest Edouard Cossy
Thursday, September 14th
7:30 PM

Reception

2012 LAURENT PERRIER MILLESIME BRUT CHAMPAGNE
Price: $87.00               Your Price: $76.56

Winemaker Notes The Vintage is the choice of an exceptional year from which only a selection of the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir Grands Crus will enter into a future iteration of Grand Siècle. It is a rare and outstanding wine that expresses the character of the year in the Laurent-Perrier style. The wine is white gold in color with a fine sparkle. A flowery nose of great complexity, with notes of citrus and white peaches. A wine that is very present with a lively attack and great finesse with good minerality and notes of grapefruit on the finish.

The Vintage 2012 pairs well with seafood and noble fish as well as with poultry or veal. This wine sublimates hard pressed cheeses such as a young Comté or a Beaufort.

Blend: 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir

Grand Siècle expresses the quintessence of champagne and French refinement

Launched in 1959, Grand Siècle is Laurent-Perrier’s Prestige Cuvée, the prime example of the House’s exacting standards and know-how. Its unique style combining finesse, power and balance is the outcome of blending the very best grapes from the most prestigious crus in wines from the best Laurent-Perrier vintage years.  All the new releases of the Grand Siecle will have an edition number on the bottle so you will know the three vintages that make up the blend.

Majority of Chardonnay 55%*Pinot Noir 45%*Crus: Grand Siècle is elaborated from a selection of 11 of the 17 Grands Crus of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Pinot Noir Grands Crus including Ambonnay, Bouzy and Mailly.Chardonnay Grands Crus including Avize, Cramant and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Aged: for a minimum of 20 years.

Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle #26 Champagne Brut
(2007, 2008, 2012)

Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle #25 Grand Cuvee Champagne Brut
(2006, 2007, 2008)

 Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle #23 Grand Cuvee Champagne Brut
(2002, 2004, 2006)

Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle #20 Grand Cuvee Champagne Brut
 (1996, 1997, 1999)

Menu

Shoestring French Fries with Lemon Ginger Gremolata
Baby Red Bliss potatoes filled with American Sturgeon Caviar
Tuna Poke with Hawaiian Sea Salt, Lime, coconut and cilantro
Seared Hudson Valley Foie Fras with Sautéed wild Mushrooms on Brioche Toast
Candied Lemon Drop LP Champagne Sorbet with Mint
A5 Wagyu Kobe Filet Mignon Sashimi with Ponzu Orange Dipping Sauce

The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $275 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

A bit about Champagne Laurent Perrier:

A family of coopers founded this estate back in 1812.  They eventually became tired of seeing other growers’ wine in their casks and decided to move from their native town of Chigny-les-Roses on the Montagne de Reims to set up shop in the remains of an eleventh century abbey at Tours-sur-Marne.  This turned out to be an excellent move, when the echelle des crus system was put into place in 1919 (the system was delimitated in 1919 and imposed by 1944), all of the vineyards in this town were awarded grand and premier cru status.  It is this system that sets the standards for vineyards in Champagne and unlike the vineyard classification system in Burgundy and Bordeaux vineyards are reclassified, up graded and given new status on a regular basis. 

Eugene Laurent inherited the firm from his parents and ran it until his death in 1887.  At that time Mathilde Emile Perrier, Eugene’s widow took over the firm and changed its name to Veuve Laurent Perrier.  When she passed away without heirs in 1925 the firm went up for sale.  Ironically, another widow, Marie-Louise de Nonancourt (the sister of Victor and Henri Lanson) purchased the marque in 1938.  Women have played an important role in the history of the champagne industry, a wine which we might term essentially feminine.  This was confirmed by the Marquise de Pompadour, with her intelligent sensitivity to things of this nature.  Some other illustrious widows; Bollinger, Pommery, Harriot and Heidsieck.  The house of Laurent Perrier never really saw its true potential until after the World War II, when Bernard de Nonancourt (the son of Marie Louise) took the firm over.  At that time Laurent-Perrier was ranked a mere ninety-eighth amongst the Champagne houses.  Bernard undertook a major renovation of the firm and brought its vineyards back to their former state of excellence.

The house owns vineyards in Avise, Bouzy, Cramant, & Louvois (a tiny growing region).  The wines from Bouzy add great weight and extraction and richness of flavor.  This powerful Pinot bouquet is heightened by high alcohol content.  There is something spectacular about the chardonnay from Cramant, a certain perfumed characteristic indigenous in the grapes grown here they are one of the purest expressions of this grape in all of Champagne.  Creamy and rich, laden with fruit, this is terroir supreme

The estate now produces around 583,000 cases annually; they have one of the top Non-Vintage Brut Roses in the business.  Laurent Perrier’s Tete du Cuvee blend is Grand Siecle (the great century), this cuvee is in the same league as the great Champagne houses marque wines like Louis Roederer’s Crystal and Perrier Jouet’s Belle Epoche.  The firms’ prestige cuvee Rose is the Cuvee Grand Siecle Alexandra Rose.  This wine offers delightfully scented citrus, vanilla, smoke with notes of beaked bread.  This firm belongs in the company of all these fine producers.  

In the 17th Century, during the reign of Louis XIV, France enjoyed its most illustrious era. Louis XIV became known as the "Sun King" for his benevolence and his patronage of the Arts, which became the foundation of France's rich artistic heritage. At the Palace of Versailles Louis XIV was the first French King to drink Champagne.  Louis XIV's era became known as the Grand Siècle - the "Great Century". Bottled in a replica of a 17th Century bottle evoking the radiance of that period, Laurent-Perrier's prestige cuvées embody luxury, magnificence and elegance fit for a king.

When it came to his prestige cuvée, Bernard de Nonancourt decided to highlight two of Champagne's traditional realms of proficiency: the blending of different crus and different vintages. Grand Siècle "La Cuvée" is the epitome of Champagne cuvées, as it blends complementary wines from Laurent-Perrier's very best growths and most successful vintage years.  Grand Siècle is made with a pinot noir and chardonnay blend, with the latter being slightly dominant. Twelve of the most prestigious villages supply these grapes; all of them classified at 100% Grands Crus such as Ambonnay, Verzenay, Mailly, Avize, Cramant, Chouilly and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Within the vineyards of these villages, only the very best plots are selected, as are the finest musts from the pressings. The blended wine is then aged during the second fermentation on the yeast for approximately five years.

It has a bright color, with a brilliant yellow hue. Its subtle aromas of honey, hazelnuts, grilled almonds and brioche, make this the perfect companion for refined dishes. It pairs just as well with poultry and truffles as it does with veal and morel mushrooms.