Laurent-Perrier Champagne Grand Siecle Brut No. 27 NV 750ml

#73 in Top 100 Wines of France, 2025. Impressively aromatic, showing honeysuckle, violets and lavender with bread dough and just a hint of light caramel as well as dried apples, cooked pears and tarte tatin. Reductive with graphite, stone and iodine. Some chalk too. Full-bodied but not at all heavy, turning almost weightless. Nine years on the lees and 7 g/L dosage give energy, length and form. Goes on for minutes. This will age beautifully but is already fascinating, evolving in the glass. Available in the US market in November. Drink or hold.

This seamless Champagne glides across the palate, with a finely detailed, silky mousse. Shows fresh focus, with its backbone of firm, fine china–like acidity enmeshed with a complex range of creamy pear and black currant fruit; minerally oyster shell and wet chalk; and fragrant preserved lemon, anise and chamomile. Offering rich accents of smoked almond and brioche, this expands slowly and effortlessly on the palate before echoing on the long finish. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Drink now through 2040.

The NV Grande Cuvée Grand Siècle No. 27 is a gorgeous, complex wine. Pear, dried flowers, chamomile, mint, sage and ginger are all wonderfully dynamic in the glass. Floral and savory notes build with a bit of time in the glass. The No. 27 is a wonderfully complex Grand Siècle that can be enjoyed on release. The blend is 65% 2015, 25% 2013 and 10% 2012. There's a touch of vintage 2015 savoriness, but those notes add character rather than overpowering the wine. Dosage is 7 grams per liter. Disgorged: May 2025.

Disgorged in January 2025 with a dosage of seven grams per liter, the forthcoming NV Grand Siècle N°27 already demonstrates considerable promise. A blend of the 2015, 2013 and 2012 vintages—predominantly anchored in the youngest—it draws from eight villages, comprising 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir, with an intentional emphasis on Chardonnay to counterbalance the concentration of Pinot Noir. The 2015 imparts expressiveness, echoing the 2012, while the cool, late-ripening 2013 contributes freshness and cut. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of pear, peach, lemon confit and freshly baked bread, framed by a subtle smoky reduction, it is full-bodied and concentrated, built around a generous and charming core of fruit, underpinned by tangy acidity driving toward a long, resonant finish. Slightly fleshier and broader shouldered than the Grand Siècle N°24 tasted alongside, it indicates yet another distinguished Grand Siècle in the making.

With hot, dry 2015 the backbone of this edition (with fresher 2013 and 2012 in support), it's no surprise that this edition of Grand Siècle is a relatively forward, open one at first. It shows yellow plum, bittersweet orange citrus, creamy nougat and a beautifully deep, ember-smoky vein of ageing complexity and candied-fruit richness lurking through its glossy, silky texture. The style remains true to the cuvée in its polish and fluency, although a little more grip and structure from 2015 marks this edition out as a relatively substantial one. With the elongating, freshening power of 2013 and 2012 in the blend, it's a fine argument for Grand Siècle's tri-vintage composition.