“At Laurent-Perrier, we love years that have a little more character, and 2018 has character,” said Laurent-Perrier cellar master Olivier Vigneron about the Millésimé 2018. “We make very few vintages,” Vigneron said, “2018 is the 32nd vintage released since 1950,” which means from a total of 75 harvests since 1950, only 32 vintages were declared.
Olivier Vigneron presenting the Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle No. 27 at a press lunch.
In talking about his decision to declare a vintage for the 2018 harvest, a hot and dry year that was a real challenge in some plots that suffered from dry-stress, Vigneron said: “I have to start talking about the winter from 2017/18 which, happily, was very wet, because 2018 from early April onwards was very sunny and very dry. We had no trouble with frost and the vegetation progressed rapidly. Flowering happened in dry and sunny conditions in early June.”
The summer continued hot and dry and Vigneron said that picking started in the last week of August, “so we had only 84-85 days between flowering and harvest,” quite some days off that much-evoked aromatic ideal of 100 days between flowering and harvest. Dry stress meant a lot of sorting during harvest to “keep the equilibrium,“ Vigneron said, as did choosing sites that suffered less, or, as he put it: “sites that resisted the situation better.”
Vigneron also emphasised the quantitative generosity of the vintage. He noted that the 2018 Chardonnays had “real finesse with slightly lower acidities,” while Pinot Noir was “structured.” He made the vintage with the Laurent-Perrier guiding principle of “freshness and vivacity” to express the character of the year – and the result is, indeed, remarkably fresh. The ripeness of 2018 is expressed, to my mind, as juiciness.
Recreating the perfect year
“With our vintages we look for difference, with Grand Siècle we look for continuity.” Olivier Vigneron, London, February 5, 2026.
Presenting the Millésimé 2018 together with Grand Siècle was illustrative of the different aims of the wines. Vigneron, of course, referenced founder Bernard de Nonancourt’s pioneering vision and idea behind Grand Siècle, which consisted in “creating the perfect year” by “assembling three vintages of great character to be even better than these vintages on their own,” Vigneron said.
“Vivacity, freshness and something that will allow the wines to mature for a long time,” are the attributes Vigneron looks for when choosing the wines – this goes in hand with the pure and sleek house-style that is based on stainless steel only. The wines never see any oak.
“Aromatic precision always is most important and the “complémentarité” between the different years we look for is to have a wine that still has primary aromas, supplemented by secondary aromas [of autolysis] and the possibility of long ageing,” Vigneron said. “We always look for that Grand Siècle identity.”
This 27th iteration of Grand Siècle is thus created from 65% of the 2015 vintage, 25% of the 2013 vintage and 10% of the 2012 vintage – lovers of Champagne will know that these are indeed contrasting years: the ripe, hot 2015 that brought heatwaves and storms but could be harvested in good conditions, the tauter and later-ripening 2013, the only vintage this century with an October harvest and the dramatic 2012 which threw so much at the vignerons with frost damage but turned into lovely elegance in the end. For Vigneron, the addition of 2013 and 2012 “calms the generosity, the structure of 2015 down a little. 2013 brings vivacity while 2012 brings something elegant.”
The idea, very simply, is to create something that is more than the sum of its parts, always with these primary and secondary aromas at play. Knowing the sites and knowing the reserve wines was key to being able to “assemble a wine that is the most precise.” Vigneron noted “where with our vintages we look for difference, with Grand Siècle we look for continuity.”
The contrast between the 2018 vintage and the latest iteration of Grand Siècle was beautifully evident. Two very different wines, made with two different ideas and with Grand Siècle indeed far more than the sum of its parts, elegant, dew-fresh and scented, as always. Chapeau!
Laurent-Perrier Brut Millésimé 2018
52% Chardonnay from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize, Cramant and Chouilly , 48% of Pinot Noir from Verzy, Louvois, Aÿ, Tours-sur-Marne and Ambonnay. Disgorged in July 2025 with 8 g/l of dosage.
A sense of freshly baked Genoese sponge and Savoiardi biscuits on the nose gently opens into touches of Mirabelle plum and the ripe zest of Amalfi lemon. The palate is pliable, flowing, juicy even, but absolutely bounded by freshness. The svelte Laurent-Perrier body is here, but comes with real, animating juiciness. A lovely juxtaposition that tapers into a mouthwatering finish with overtones of juicy tangerine and more of that ripe lemon
Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle No. 27
The composition is from grands crus only, eight in this iteration: 60% of Chardonnay from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Avize and Cramant and 40% Pinot Noir from Tours-sur-Marne, Ambonnay, Bouzy and Verzy. Disgorged after a decade on lees in May 2025 with a dosage of 7 g/l.
The nose is all patisserie, fresh, airy sponge layered with cream and supple apricot, tenderly accented by lemon. All is subtle, tender, scented. A little more air and time adds a real sense of white summer blossom. Fine, lively mousse bubbles up with a lovely eagerness, with esprit and grace, with a joyous presence. The mid-palate holds salty chalk tautness but also a most tender vibe that straddles roasted hazelnut and caramel flavours, gently hinting at 2015 ripeness, but edged with lemon. Bright lemon, chalky substance and saltiness just last on the palate. Indeed, subtlety, precision, substance and freshness define the wine.
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