Laurent-Perrier "Grand Siècle" Iteration #26 Brut Champagne (bin-soiled label)

This iteration of Grand Siècle is almost entirely composed of two of Champagne's greatest recent vintages, so expectations are high. The wine more than meets them, tempering the generosity of 2012's fruit – ripe apricots, white peach, clementines and sunny, zesty citrus – with a pitch-perfect streak of 2008 tautness and structure. There are some fleshy, creamy notes of papaya and toasted white sourdough, but everything is as delicately rendered as expected and impeccably shaped, with a sleek, silky mousse. A little more approachable than Itération No. 25, it will welcome extended bottle age rather than demand it. (TH)

The Laurent-Perrier “Grand Siécle” Iteration No. 26 is composed from the vintages of 2012, 2008 and 2007. Sixty-five percent of the blend is 2012, twenty-five percent 2008 and ten percent 2007. The final cépages worked out to be fifty-eight percent chardonnay and forty-two percent pinot noir, all from grand cru villages. The wine was aged ten years sur lattes prior to disgorgement. The wine shows beautiful elegance on the nose, wafting from the glass in a complex blend of apple, white peach, fresh-baked bread, chalky soil tones, incipient notes of caraway seed, dried flowers and a topnote of gentle smokiness. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and beautifully structured, with a lovely core of fruit, excellent soil signature, refined mousse and a long, complex and impeccably balanced finish. This is still a fairly youthful wine and there are other layers of complexity that time will unlock here, if patience can be exercised and the wine allowed to hibernate down in the cellar for five to ten years. That said, it is already so delicious that aging it is going to take serious self-discipline! 96+