Champagne Laurent-Perrier Brand Overview
In 1812 André-Michel Pierlot, a former cooper and bottler from Aÿ, settled in Tours-sur-Marne and set up business as a champagne négociant (merchant). His son who succeeded him, Alphonse Pierlot, established the champagne house Le Roy Fils & Pierlot. In 1881, on his death bed and with no heir, he left the house to his Cellar Master Eugène Laurent and his wife Mathilde Emilie Perrier. The house became known as Eugène Laurent & Co.
Eugène Laurent ensured that his business had the essential basis for producing great champagnes by buying several existing houses in Tours-sur-Marne to build up his own estate. In parallel, he acquired a number of plots located in the very best terroirs of Ambonnay, Bouzy, Dizy and Tours-Sur-Marne. He also excavated 800 metres of cellars and installed a tasting laboratory, only to meet a premature, accidental death in 1887. His widow Mathilde decided to take on the running of the company herself and renamed the house Veuve Laurent-Perrier & Co linking her name with that of her late husband.
Mathilde died in 1925 and her daughter Eugenie inherited the company facing a huge challenge, but strived to keep up the business her mother had worked so hard for. However, in 1939 with only 12,000 bottles left in the cellars, she sold the business to Madame Louise Lanson de Nonancourt, the sister of Champagne producers Victor and Henry Lanson and her youngest son, Bernard de Nonancourt eventually inherited the house.
In 1945 when Bernard de Nonancourt returned from the war, he began an apprenticeship at the houses of Delamotte and Lanson, learning all he needed to know about champagne production. By 1949 he was finally ready to take over ownership of the house which at that time was still called Veuve Laurent-Perrier. It was changed in 1964 to Champagne Laurent-Perrier.
Bernard de Nonancourt’s ambition from the start was to make great quality champagne and establish the house as one of the main players in the region. In his 60 years at the helm, Bernard created the modern-day Laurent-Perrier style: essentially light, fresh and elegant champagnes. He transformed it into a leading independent Champagne brand with a global reputation with success founded on a healthy respect for the natural world and for people. His philosophy was ‘with quality people and quality products you cannot fail’.
Prior to 1968, making non-vintage rosé champagne was virtually unthinkable. It was in the midst of a cultural revolution that the visionary Bernard de Nonancourt gave it its credentials. This daring wine combines real structure with freshness and a soft, vinous character.
Cuvée Rosé Laurent-Perrier is made using nearly a dozen crus: most of them Grand Cru from the southern and northern regions of the Montagne de Reims, including the celebrated Côte de Bouzy. With a preference for Crus located in Ambonnay, Bouzy, Louvois, Verzenay, Verzy and the northern part of Mailly, Bernard’s rosé in its elegant bottle inspired by the times of French King Henri IV soon made a worldwide name for itself, eclipsing his ambitious vision for the house.
Having reached 90 years old, Bernard sadly died in 2010 and was succeeded by his two daughters Stéphanie and Alexandra, who today ensure Laurent-Perrier remains firmly a family owned Champagne house.
