31 Dec Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Laurent-Perrier Héritage Brut

New Year’s Eve calls for a wine that reflects both celebration and intention, something timeless, precise, and quietly confident. Laurent-Perrier Héritage fits that moment perfectly. Crafted entirely from reserve wines and rooted in more than two centuries of savoir-faire, it is a Champagne that looks forward while honoring the past. It is a beautiful way to end the year on a high note, which is exactly why Laurent-Perrier Héritage is the Please The Palate Wine of the Week.

About Laurent-Perrier

Founded in 1812, Laurent-Perrier stands apart in Champagne not only for its wines, but for its leadership. Today, it is the largest family- and female-owned Champagne house, a legacy that traces back to Marie-Louise de Nonancourt, who acquired the house in 1939. The estate is now run by her granddaughters, Stéphanie Meneux de Nonancourt and Alexandra Pereyre de Nonancourt, continuing a lineage defined by vision, independence, and long-term thinking.

Laurent-Perrier is known for its commitment to freshness, precision, and blending excellence. These values are most famously expressed in Grand Siècle, the house’s prestige cuvée, which blends multiple exceptional vintages rather than relying on a single declared year. That same philosophy and an extraordinary reserve wine program form the foundation of Héritage.

About Laurent-Perrier Héritage Brut

Héritage is the first Brut Champagne ever created by a Champagne house made exclusively from reserve wines. It is born from the same meticulous reserve wine system developed for Grand Siècle, where Laurent-Perrier maintains wines aged 10–15 years in stainless steel tanks, preserved in pristine condition.

Because Laurent-Perrier declares vintage Champagne only in truly exceptional years, the remaining wines, along with undeclared vintages, are carefully stewarded and ultimately woven into Héritage. The result is a Champagne built on blending rather than the constraints of a single harvest.

The current release is a blend of three declared vintages, spanning 2014 to 2019, sourced from 40 Crus, of which 50% are Grand Cru and the balance are Premier Cru vineyards. Made from 55% Chardonnay and 45% Pinot Noir, the wine is fermented in stainless steel and aged four years on the lees, with a restrained dosage of 6 g/L, firmly placing it in Brut territory.

Behind the scenes is one of Champagne’s most rigorous reserve programs: over 700 stainless steel tanks, with 300 dedicated solely to reserve wines, managed year-by-year, plot-by-plot, and variety-by-variety by a four-person winemaking team. This depth allows for consistency in a region defined by climatic variability and results in a Champagne of great purity and maturity.

As Laurent-Perrier describes it, Héritage is a Champagne of freshness, elegance, and complexity, offering perfect balance and a profound sense of place. It is not about a single moment in time, but the harmony of many, making it an ideal bottle to open as one year ends and another begins.

Tasting Notes

The white gold colored wine had a persistent effervescence. On the nose, the wine offers aromas of  lemon zest, white peach, red apple, almond, and toasted brioche. On the palate, the wine is smooth and softly fills the palate and then finishes fresh and lively. It is a truly elegant, balanced, and delicious Champagne.

Food Pairing

Laurent Perrier Héritage is beautiful on its own. But it is also perfect to enjoy with dishes such as a puff pastry with mushrooms or a white fish with beurre blanc. I enjoyed the Champagne with a bowl of homecooked winter soup filled with tomato, green beans, cabbage, carrots, kidney beans, and orzo and topped with fresh Parmesan cheese. The soup was full of flavor but also light and the Champagne offered a balanced pairing.

Where To Purchase

Laurent-Perrier Héritage Brut was initially launched at Alinea restaurant in Chicago with an exclusive by-the-glass offer. But it is now widely available and retails for $129.99.