Summary
Champagne Laurent-Perrier, based in Tours-sur-Marne, is one of the largest family-owned and independent houses in Champagne. Its house style is unmistakable: Chardonnay-led blends, fermentation in stainless steel rather than wood, long ageing on the lees – and, as a result, a signature the house itself sums up in three words: freshness, elegance and purity. It was shaped by Bernard de Nonancourt, who led the house for four decades and set several benchmarks with Grand Siècle, the Cuvée Rosé and Ultra Brut. Unlike a classic wine estate, Laurent-Perrier owns only a small share of its vines.
History
The roots of the house go back to 1812, when André-Michel Pierlot, previously a cooper and bottler, settled in Tours-sur-Marne as a Champagne merchant. His cellar master Eugène Laurent later took over the business from Pierlot's descendants. When Laurent died early in 1887, his widow Mathilde-Émilie Perrier carried on and added her maiden name to her husband's – the house became Veuve Laurent-Perrier. As early as 1889 she released the „Grand Vin Sans Sucre", a Champagne radically dry for its time.
The decisive turn came in 1939, when Marie-Louise de Nonancourt, a widow with four children from the Lanson Champagne family, bought the by then much-diminished house. After the Second World War her son Bernard de Nonancourt took charge in the late 1940s, aged just 28. Over four decades he built Laurent-Perrier into an internationally leading brand and forged the house style it is still known for today.
The de Nonancourt family retains the majority to this day. The executive board is chaired by Stéphane Dalyac, while Bernard's daughters Alexandra Pereyre de Nonancourt and Stéphanie Meneux de Nonancourt sit on the supervisory board. In the cellar, Olivier Vigneron succeeded Michel Fauconnet in 2025, who had worked for the house for more than five decades.
Location & Terroir
Tours-sur-Marne lies in the Vallée de la Marne east of Épernay, where the Marne valley meets the foot of the Montagne de Reims. The village itself is rated Grand Cru in Champagne's ranking of villages. The whole region is defined by its cool, northerly climate and its chalk subsoil, which stores water, slows ripening and gives the wines their cool, saline mineral streak and lively acidity.
Unlike a classic estate, Laurent-Perrier works less with a handful of owned sites than with the diversity of Champagne. Its own roughly 150 hectares lie mainly around Tours-sur-Marne, in the Côte des Blancs and in the Montagne de Reims – yet they cover only a small part of what the house needs. The remainder comes from a network built up over decades: more than 1,200 contracted growers in over 300 villages, among them numerous Grands and Premiers Crus. That broad base is what makes it possible to hit the same style year after year.
Style & Philosophy
The house style rests on a few consistently applied decisions. First, Chardonnay: it dominates the blends – the rosé aside – and brings freshness, finesse and citrus. Second, stainless steel: in the late 1970s Laurent-Perrier was among the first houses to ferment consistently in temperature-controlled steel in order to preserve purity of fruit and freshness. Oak ageing is deliberately absent here.
Third, malolactic fermentation: unlike some houses that deliberately block it, Laurent-Perrier lets malolactic run across the entire range. That takes the hardness out of the acidity and gives the wines their supple, approachable texture. And fourth, time: the cuvées spend long periods on the lees so that they are ready to drink on release.
Notable Sites & Wines
The range is clearly structured, from the entry point up to the rare prestige cuvées:
- La Cuvée (Brut) – the non-vintage Brut and calling card of the house, distinctly Chardonnay-led
- Ultra Brut – launched in 1981 and one of the trailblazers of zero-dosage Champagne
- Cuvée Rosé – created in 1968 by Bernard de Nonancourt, pure Pinot Noir made by the demanding maceration method, recognisable by its rounded bottle
- Blanc de Blancs – single-variety Chardonnay
- Grand Siècle – the prestige cuvée since 1959: never a single vintage, but a blend of three complementary years, largely from Grand Cru fruit; the releases are numbered as „Itérations"
- Alexandra Rosé – created in 1987 for the wedding of Bernard's daughter Alexandra, a rare prestige rosé made only in great vintages
Awards
Laurent-Perrier is among the best-selling Champagne brands internationally and exports to well over 100 countries. The prestige cuvée regularly draws the greatest attention: Grand Siècle Itération N°26 was scored 100 out of 100 points by James Suckling and named his Wine of the Year. The Cuvée Rosé, too, has been a reference for maceration-method rosé Champagne for decades – a style long considered too laborious, which the house established against the trend.