This Is Laurent-Perrier: The House That Invented 'Zero Dosage' Champagnes!
Laurent-Perrier is today the world's third best-selling Champagne House and the largest female-owned Champagne House today. From its humble beginnings in 1812, its weathered war-time struggles and family buyouts, and also carved a reputation for itself as the creator of the non-dosage, or "Brut Nature" category of champagne.
Let's take a quick dive into Laurent-Perrier and break down everything you need to know about this pioneering Champagne House!
How Laurent-Perrier Got Its Name
One common misconception is that all Champagne houses are named after the family that founded them. Well, that might certainly be the case for the majority, but it isn't for Laurent-Perrier.
As the story goes, the house was first created through the efforts of one André-Michel Pierlot in 1812. A former bottler and cooper, he would decide to up his game to Champagne production instead, settling in Tours-sur-Marne as a Champagne Wine Merchant. In the Grand-Cru-Classified village, he would purchase two plots of land — Les Plaisances and La Tour Glorieux — where the legacy of Laurent-Perrier would begin.
After her husband's untimely death in a car accident, Mathilde-Emilie Perrier took over the company, which led to the House's name eventually being changed to Laurent-Perrier.
After his death, his son Alphonse Pierlot would succeed him and, having no descendants himself, would eventually will the House to friend and Cellar Master, Eugène Laurent. Later on, his widow Mathilde-Emilie Perrier took over the company. By combining her name with his, the name of Laurent-Perrier was officially born.
This House Invented the "Brut Nature", or Non-Dosage, Champagne Style!
A 19th century ad publicising Laurent-Perrier's groundbreaking "Sans-Sucre" (sugar free) champagne.
Back in the late 19th century, French drinkers used to favour their Champagnes with a good amount of sweetness. The British, on the other hand, leaned toward a drier version of the bubbly. Recognising that the British market for Champagne was steadily picking up, the House had quite an idea: to start making low-to-no sugar-added Champagnes.
In 1889, Laurent-Perrier introduced the groundbreaking "Grand Vin Sans Sucre" (Great Wine Without Sugar), the first-ever non-dosage Champagne.
What's No-Dosage Champagne, You Ask?
Well, dosage is the last step in the traditional wine making process. This refers to when a wine-maker would add a tiny amount of liqueur (usually a mix of cane sugar and reserve wines) to the wine before bottling. This was to help balance out and enhance certain flavours.
When Laurent-Perrier introduce their "Grand Vin Sans Sucre", it was the first time that a Champagne House had launched a champagne without any additional dosage added. The idea behind this wine occured in 1976, during a year where the summer was particularly scorching. Because the harvested grapes for that year had particularly good maturity and a balanced sweetness and acidity, this allowed the House to create a champagne that didn't require dosage to have balance.
These Days, The Laurent-Perrier Ultra Brut Is the Representative No-Dosage Champagne of the House
While Laurent-Perrier no longer produces the original Grand Vin Sans Sucre expressions, these days, it instead continues its tradition of non-dosage champagne with its flagship Ultra Brut bottling, launched in 1981. The Ultra Brut is based on a specific blend composed of 55% Chardonnay and 45% Pinot Noir from 15 Crus, which are aged for 6 years in the cellars. The wine is characterized by its purity and freshness.
War Time Hardships Led to the Sale of Laurent-Perrier to the De Nonancourt Family
After tiding through the heat of the First World War, Mathilde Perrier unfortunately passed away in 1925, leaving the company to her daughter, Eugénie-Hortense Laurent. However, due to the economic hardships of the interwar period, as well as the looming threat of World War 2, Eugénie-Hortense was forced to sell the company to one Mary-Louise Lanson de Nonancourt in 1939.
Thus enters the De Nonancourt family into the story.
Coming from her family firm of Lanson Père et Fils (one of Champagne's oldest and most famous houses), it was certainly a leap of great faith to purchase a near-bankrupt, relatively unknown lesser house.
Marie-Louise Lanson de Nonancourt (left) helped save Laurent-Perrier from the brink of collapse during World War 2. Her younger son Bernard de Nonancourt (right) helped grow it into the third-largest Champagne House it is today.
Despite the dire times, Marie-Louise Lanson invested heavily in the company, including mortgaging a hidden stash of 1,000 cases of Champagne (Unthinkably valuable at the time) to ensure the house's survival through the turbulent years of World War 2.
The period was not without personal lost either. Both her sons Maurice and Bernard became freedom fighters during the war. Tragically, her eldest son Maurice was captured and soon after perished in the Oranienburg concentration camp. As a result, her younger son Bernard became the heir to the family business and took over the reins in 1949 at the tendr age of 28 (but not being he served some time in the French Resistance no less!).
Laurent-Perrier Is the Largest Female-Owned Champagne House Today
Stéphanie Meneux de Nonancourt and Alexandra Pereyre de Nonancourt run the house, making it the largest family-and female-owned Champagne house today.
Today, Bernard's daughters Stéphanie Meneux de Nonancourt and Alexandra Pereyre de Nonancourt run the house, making it the largest family-and female-owned Champagne house today. In 1999, Laurent-Perrier became a publicly traded company on the French stock exchange, although the de Nonancourt family maintained a majority stake of 57 per cent.
Between 1950 and 2000, Laurent-Perrier increased its sales by a factor of one hundred, climbing the ranks of the Champagne industry. Under “Le Grand Bernard”, the house rose from being the 100th largest producer to the third largest by 2005, where it remains to this day.
The House Chooses Its Grapes With A Staggering Degree Of Care
Most wine houses pay a good amount of care to their grapes and vineyards, but Laurent-Perrier can surely contend with those that go above and beyond in their grape selection process.
The house employs a rather meticulous method of a little something known as plot-by-plot vinification. Its inception was widely attributed to ex-Cellar Master Alain Terrier. As the story goes, he would select grapes from the finest vineyards and vinify each parcel separately, ensuring the preservation of unique terroir characteristics.
Laurent-Perrier was also pioneer in adopting stainless steel vats for fermentation. A fairly innovative approach when it first appeared, it would soon be found to allow for precise temperature control, preserving the wine's freshness and complexity. Under the leadership of Bernard, the House further developed this by investing in its first temperature-controlled vat room.
A Cuvée To Honor France’s “Great Century": The Grand Siècle
Laurent-Perrier's period of innovation wasn't just limited to the time of Mathilde-Emilie.
From the innovative mind of Bernard de Nonancourt in 1953, the idea emerged in for a cuvée that could remain prestigious even in years where the grape crops could not be vintages.
Six years later in 1959, the fruit of his labors was launched: The Grand Siècle. It would become the house's prestige cuvée, a decision which diverged from the regional convention that a house’s most prestigious Champagne should be a vintage.
The cuvée was named after France's "Great Century", a period in the 17th century marked by significant cultural, artistic, and political development. Curiously, the house also owns the revamped Château de Louvois.
The Palace of Versailles was a key landmark during the period.
Constructed in the 13th century, the château underwent significant renovations in the 17th century under the ownership of François Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois. A prominent figure during the Grand Siècle, Le Tellier served as Chancellor to King Louis XIV and played a pivotal role in the construction of the Palace of Versailles.
This exceptional cuvée is a blend of 55 per cent Chardonnay and 45 per cent Pinot Noir from a select group of 11 Grand Cru vineyards in Champagne. Aged for a minimum of 10 years on the lees in bottle, the wine is further aged in Magnum format.
The House Makes Their Rosé A Little Differently...
Another in a long line of innovations by the house is also their famed Rosé champagne. Created in 1968, it was launched in a period where Rosé champagnes were hardly noticed, also making it one of the earliest Rosé champagnes on the market.
The way the Rosé is made also contributes to its popularity.You see, Rosé (at the time) was most commonly made by blending red and white base wines to achieve its signature pale pink color. What Laurent-Perrier did differently, was use (and master) a certain method called maceration.
Also known as the saignée method, maceration is a technique where the grape skins, seeds, and sometimes stems are left in contact with the juice for a period of time. This process is said to extract color, tannins, and flavor compounds from the grape solids into the juice.
In a process lasting from 48 to 72 hours depending on the harvest, red Pinot Noir grapes are pressed before the resultant mush of must and skins are macerated in temperature-controlled vats.
The House Employs A Robot In Its Fields
Let it not be said that Laurent-Perrier doesn't embrace automation or new technologies.
Despite being an old wine house, it has certainly managed to find a balance between tradition and the future. To reduce reliance on manual labor and minimize its environmental impact, they adopted a four-wheeled, bright blue robot that would in any other situation be odd to spot in a field full of grape vines.
The Vitibot, an autonomous electric robot, is used to mechanically weed and mow the soil. Guided by GPS, this robot operates independently, contributing to the vineyard's sustainability efforts and reducing carbon emissions.
The house continues to make well-renowned cuvées, and clearly has no indication of stopping. For those initiated into the world of champagnes, the next innovation by Laurent-Perrier is an eagerly-awaited one..
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Lok Bing Hong A budding journalist that loves experiencing new things and telling people's stories. I have 30 seconds of coherence a day. I do not decide when they come. They are not consecutive. |
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