I used to credit most of Champagne’s popularity to marketing glitz. It’s all about the image, right? I guzzled cheap Cava and grocery-store Crémant, feeling smug and wise.
But I was wrong. Good Champagne, alas, occupies its own tier of deliciousness among sparkling wines. The bubbles are finer, the texture richer, the flavors brighter and more persistent. This is something I (halfway) wish I had never found out.
Real Champagne is rarely on my shopping list, so I cherish the chance to have a sip at an industry event or a fancy party. Today, the opportunity came when Pogo’s Wine & Spirits hosted a (free!) public tasting of Maison Laurent-Perrier.
Founded in 1812, Laurent-Perrier is one of the largest Champagne brands and is noted for both its innovation and its continuity. They pioneered the modern zero-dosage category with the launch of their “Ultra Brut” unsweetened Champagne in 1981. Laurent-Perrier was also an early advocate of rosé Champagne, at a time when pink wines were rarely taken seriously by collectors or critics. (It’s now their best-selling item.)
Laurent-Perrier makes fewer vintage Champagnes than many other top producers, preferring to showcase the art of the blend. For instance, the elegant “Grand Siècle” is always a blend of wines from three complementary vintages. The idea is that Champagne may not ever have a truly perfect vintage–but one can be assembled in the winery.
Chardonnay is Laurent-Perrier’s favored grape for its acidity and its age-worthiness. The fruit is gathered from top sites (including many Grand Cru and Premier Cru villages) across the region. The house style is all about stainless-steel production and long, slow lees aging. As a result, none of the wines are heavy or bready, and oxidative notes are rarely found. All are characterized by fresh primary flavors and precisely tempered acidity.
Brand ambassador and self-described “Champagne seeker” Poppi Monroe was in Dallas on Saturday, pouring four wines from the Laurent-Perrier portfolio.
We began with the Blanc de Blancs (100% Chardonnay). It shows aromas of fresh apple, white flowers, pickled ginger, white nectarine, seashell, and a little sour bread dough. Extremely fine, stealthy bubbles with a clean, tart, and mineral finish. Laurent Perrier’s Brut Nature bottling spends eight years aging on the lees. (“To knock the corners off,” Monroe told us, referring to the extreme angularity of the young, cool-climate Chardonnay.)
Zero-dosage styles are undeniably trendy–but honestly, if I’m choosing, I prefer my Champagne a little more traditionally indulgent. La Cuvée is a classic blend of Chardonnay (~50%), Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier in a Brut style: Powdery florals, citrus, strawberries, and light pastry with fresh apricot and orange rind on the palate. It’s an all-around tasty, prototypical Champagne–zesty and creamy with balanced sweetness. It spends four years aging on the lees.
The whites are solid, but the pink Champagne is delightful: Laurent-Perrier’s Cuvée Rosé. A pretty salmon color introduces a wine that’s bright, fruity, and full with a savory botanical edge. Strawberry, raspberry, and ruby grapefruit aromas lead into a vivid mouthful of ripe blended berries. Its plushness is offset by fresh melon (or even cucumber), mint, and a long mineral finish. (This was my favorite pour–apart from the prestige cuvée, duh.) 100% Pinot Noir from 10 different crus, mostly across Montagne de Reims.
The best was saved for last: Laurent-Perrier’s top wine, the Grand Siècle. For the 26th edition, the Chef de Cave has blended Chardonnay (55%) and Pinot Noir (45%) from the 2007, 2008, and 2012 vintages. The standard bottle size spends ten years on lees, and a few years longer for the magnum.
Grand Siècle boasts intense aromas of sliced Fuji apple and apple blossom, toasted almonds/hazelnuts, and baked pie crust. It opens up into rich flavors of candied lemon and orange peel with hints of caramel, ginger, and nutmeg. It’s the first of today’s wines that tastes “aged” at all, and it’s perfectly done–the best of the produce aisle and the pastry aisle squeezed harmoniously into one bulbous black bottle.
My wife jokes that we do our Champagne tastings in two stages: One, tasting the Champagne. And two, immediately trying to forget how much we like Champagne.
But this time, it wasn’t easy. Champagne has length, in the mouth and in the memory. I handed back my emptied crystal glass. I picked out a Tavel from Kermit Lynch ($21.99) and signed up for the Pogo’s rewards program. I ran into a wine acquaintance and chatted for a while about Merlot. I walked straight past a second table stocked with good tequila and headed home, still tasting the Grand Siècle on my tongue.
It was a delicious afternoon break that reminded me of the beauty of these long-lived, luxurious wines. Now, the task is to (once again) try and forget all about them.
Where: Pogo’s Wine & Spirits, 5360 West Lovers Lane Suite 200, Dallas, TX 75209
Wines tasted (prices are Pogo’s retail, rounded to the nearest dollar):
Laurent-Perrier Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature Champagne (NV) – $100
Laurent-Perrier “La Cuvée” Brut Champagne (NV) – $57
Laurent-Perrier “Cuvée Rosé” Brut Champagne (NV) – $95
Laurent-Perrier “Grand Siècle No. 26” Champagne (NV) – $250
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
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