{"product_id":"grand-siecle-recreating-the-perfect-year-a-master-class-in-the-art-of-champagne-assemblage","title":"GRAND SIECLE: Recreating the Perfect Year, A Master Class in the Art of Champagne Assemblage","description":"\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA seminar on the philosophy, construction and evolution of Champagne Laurent-Perrier's Grand Siècle, with Edouard Cossy, Grand Siècle Global Director\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Premise\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePrestige Champagne is, with rare exception, a wine of vintage. A house waits for an exceptional season, declares it and bottles its finest fruit as a singular record of that year. The convention is so deeply embedded in Champagne's hierarchy of quality that it is rarely examined as a choice at all.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGrand Siècle rests on a rejection of that convention. Bernard de Nonancourt, in developing the definitive expression of Laurent-Perrier, concluded that no vintage in Champagne's history has ever been complete. Every year, however celebrated, carries an asymmetry: exceptional Chardonnay alongside merely adequate Pinot Noir; structural power without corresponding finesse; freshness unaccompanied by depth.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIf that premise holds, then the vintage-declaration model does not represent Champagne's highest achievement. It represents a concession to whatever a single season happened to provide.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNonancourt's alternative followed from a simple observation: assemblage, the blending of disparate components into a unified whole, is Champagne's foundational technique and its defining art. Grand Siècle extends that art to its logical, and largely unprecedented, conclusion: blending not within a single year, but across several.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cspan\u003eConstruction\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEvery Grand Siècle is composed from three declared Laurent-Perrier vintages, selected and combined for their complementarity rather than their individual distinction. Chardonnay forms the majority of the blend; Pinot Noir supplies structure and complements it. Fruit is drawn from a defined selection of 11 of Champagne's 17 Grand Cru villages, and the wine undergoes cellar aging exceeding a decade prior to release.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe result is not identified by vintage, since it is not, in the conventional sense, a vintage wine. Each recreation of Nonancourt's \"perfect year\" is designated an Iteration: not a harvest report, but an attempt, repeatable and revisable, at a fixed and demanding target. Since the first assemblage in 1959, only 27 have been judged sufficient to bear the name, a rate of production that reflects the rigor of the selection rather than any scarcity of raw material.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Seminar's Structure\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis seminar proceeds as an inquiry rather than a survey. Five wines are presented not as a ranked lineup, but as successive positions within a single idea.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe tasting opens with Laurent-Perrier Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature, served without dosage. As Chardonnay forms the majority of Grand Siècle, this wine functions as a controlled reference: It isolates the grape's purity, precision and freshness before those qualities are integrated into a more complex assemblage.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLaurent-Perrier Héritage follows. Composed entirely from reserve wines drawn across declared vintages, Héritage demonstrates cross-vintage blending in a more limited application and establishes the vocabulary the rest of the seminar depends upon: continuity, freshness and integration.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGrand Siècle Iteration No. 27 introduces the central subject in its current form: the house's contemporary answer to the question the seminar poses. From there, the tasting moves backward in time. Grand Siècle Iteration No. 24, presented from magnum, allows examination of the same philosophy under different conditions — a different combination of constituent vintages, and the slower maturation particular to the larger format.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe seminar concludes with Grand Siècle Les Réserves Iteration No. 20, also from magnum: bottles retained in the house's cellars and released only after additional extended aging. Les Réserves represents the furthest point to which the Grand Siècle method can currently be observed, and gives the seminar its final test.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Speaker\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdouard Cossy has served as Grand Siècle Global Director for Champagne Laurent-Perrier since 2020, a role created specifically to develop and communicate the cuvée internationally. He joined Laurent-Perrier in 2012 after graduate study in the international wine and spirits business and work across Asia and the fine-wine trade. His participation makes this seminar not secondhand commentary, but a direct account from the person charged with representing Grand Siècle's philosophy to the world.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Flight\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWine\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLaurent-Perrier Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan\u003e750 ml — welcome pour and opening wine\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLaurent-Perrier Héritage\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan\u003e750 ml\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGrand Siècle Iteration No. 27\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan\u003e750 ml\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGrand Siècle Iteration No. 24\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1.5 L magnum\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGrand Siècle Les Réserves Iteration No. 20\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1.5 L magnum\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Waterford Wine \u0026 Spirits","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51874925445353,"sku":null,"price":200.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/unnamed_4c7a1a81-d86a-4b85-bd85-c32a59c1e61a.jpg?v=1789318114","url":"https:\/\/waterfordwine.com\/products\/grand-siecle-recreating-the-perfect-year-a-master-class-in-the-art-of-champagne-assemblage","provider":"Waterford Wine and Spirits","version":"1.0","type":"link"}