This is really something. Electric on the palate. The aromas are so complex with sliced fresh and dried ginger, subtle pie crust, tarte tatin and hints of nutmeg with some salted caramel. Toasted bread, too. Always subtle. The palate is full- to medium-bodied yet hemmed-in with a freshness and balance that draws you back. Savory and vibrant. It's full of energy. Spectacular. Fascinating. Symphonic blend of 2012, 2008 and 2007. 65% of the 2012, 25% of the 2008 and 10% of the 2007. Eight grand cru. Chardonnay 58% and 42% pinot noir. Disgorged February 2023. 10 years on the lees. 7g/L dosage. Drink or hold.

The NV Champagne Grand Siècle Iteration No. 26 is, as always, a blend from three vintages: 2012, 2008, and 2007. The blend is 58% Chardonnay and the remainder Pinot Noir. In the glass, it takes on a golden straw hue, with gorgeous fresh notes of ripe peach, quince, cherry blossoms, and fresh pastry dough. Medium to full-bodied, with an elegant and refined mousse and a lacy chalk texture, it’s a gorgeous expression that continues to evolve in the glass as it opens. Drink 2025-2055. It has the addition of six grams per liter dosage. - Audrey Frick

This iteration of Grand Siècle is almost entirely composed of two of Champagne's greatest recent vintages, so expectations are high. The wine more than meets them, tempering the generosity of 2012's fruit – ripe apricots, white peach, clementines and sunny, zesty citrus – with a pitch-perfect streak of 2008 tautness and structure. There are some fleshy, creamy notes of papaya and toasted white sourdough, but everything is as delicately rendered as expected and impeccably shaped, with a sleek, silky mousse. A little more approachable than Itération No. 25, it will welcome extended bottle age rather than demand it. The blend is 58% Chardonnay and 42% Pinot Noir from eight grand cru vineyards. 65% is from the 2012 vintage, 35% from 2008 and 10% from 2007.

96+ The Laurent-Perrier “Grand Siécle” Iteration No. 26 is composed from the vintages of 2012, 2008 and 2007. Sixty-five percent of the blend is 2012, twenty-five percent 2008 and ten percent 2007. The final cépages worked out to be fifty-eight percent chardonnay and forty-two percent pinot noir, all from grand cru villages. The wine was aged ten years sur lattes prior to disgorgement. The wine shows beautiful elegance on the nose, wafting from the glass in a complex blend of apple, white peach, fresh-baked bread, chalky soil tones, incipient notes of caraway seed, dried flowers and a topnote of gentle smokiness. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and beautifully structured, with a lovely core of fruit, excellent soil signature, refined mousse and a long, complex and impeccably balanced finish. This is still a fairly youthful wine and there are other layers of complexity that time will unlock here, if patience can be exercised and the wine allowed to hibernate down in the cellar for five to ten years. That said, it is already so delicious that aging it is going to take serious self-discipline!

Disgorged in 2023 with a dosage of seven grams per liter, the NV Grand Siècle N°26—a blend of the 2012, 2008 and 2007 vintages, with dominance from the youngest—continues its impressive trajectory. It opens with aromas of peach, candied pear and burnt buttered toast, mingling with clementine, honeysuckle and a hint of iodine. On the palate, it is medium- to full-bodied, fleshy and textural, boasting a ripe yet vibrant fruit core underpinned by lively acidity and enlivened by a pinpoint mousse, concluding with a delicately saline finish. Described by Olivier Vigneron as “monolithic,” this iteration shows itself slightly more elegant than the N°27. Comprising 58% Chardonnay and 42% Pinot Noir, it too hails from eight villages. - Kristaps Karklins

(96+ points) The NV Grande Cuvée Grand Siècle No. 26 is an elegant, sophisticated wine. The brighter side of Grand Siècle comes through nicely in the No. 26, a blend of vintages 2012, 2008 and 2007. Brisk acids cut through a core of citrus peel, white flowers, mint and chalk. Still very young, the No. 26 could benefit from a few more years in bottle. This is a terrific effort from Laurent Perrier that remains quite youthful and vibrant. Disgorged: September 2024. -- Antonio Galloni

An assemblage of three vintages 2012, 2008, and 2007 from eight Grand Cru, the Grand Siècle 26 is a 58% Chardonnay 42% Pinot blend in this cuvée. Burnished yellow gold with a singular column of tiny bubbles, it has a strikingly complex nose with layers of ripe pear, nectarine and summer red berries intermixing with wet crushed stones, toast and hints of smoke. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is opulent with a great fruit intensity lifted by finely knit, incisive acidity adding excellent freshness to the long, chalky finish. - Sarah Mayo

A graceful Champagne, with flavors of boysenberry and black cherry fruit, toast, blanched almond and grapefruit pith, graphite and fleur de sel gliding across the satiny mousse. Reveals racy acidity that sculpts fine definition, allowing the detailed profile to expand on the palate, while minerally hints of chalk and oyster shell linger on the finish. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Drink now through 2030. — A.N.