Harvest at Laurent-Perrier in the 1900's

Separating the leaves from the grapes at L-P in the 1900's

Grapes are brought to the main building

Bottling cellar in the 1900's

Laurent-Perrier cellar in the 1900's

Disgorging at Laurent-Perrier in the 1900's

Labeling bottles at Laurent-Perrier in the 1900's

Packing bottles at Laurent-Perrier in the 1900's

Tours-sur-Marne—100 Grand Cru Vineyards, home of Laurent-Perrier Champagne

Main Laurent-Perrier building today

Welcome to Laurent-Perrier!

In the main courtyard, a "Manneken-pis" statue warns visitors, "Ne Buvez Jamais d'Eau" (Never Drink Water)

View of the vineyards in Autumn

Unpruned vines in the winter.

View of the vineyards in Winter

Vines are pruned in the "cordon de royat" style until the end of March.

In mid-April, the first leaves open and grow away from the vine.

Several leaves open up on the vine.

View of the vineyards in Spring

At the very beginning of blossoming in June, grapes start to flower and separate.

For the past 25 years, the vines have always flowered near June 22nd.

Harvesting begins in mid-September.

Each cluster of grapes is hand picked.

Grapes are brought to the press.

Pressing is now done with automatic bladder presses.

Juice from first press

The first fermentation (alcoholic fermentation) in stainless steel tanks will last about three weeks.

During the "Methode Champenoise" blending process, hundreds of different juices from different varietals, crus (or villages) and years are carefully blended to produce the "House Style."

During the bottling process the bottles are filled with the wine. At this stage, the champagne is a still—non-bubbly—wine.

Second fermentation in the bottle will last, on average, three to nine years.

Some bottles have been aging in our cellars for more than 50 years!

Sediment (yeast) settles in the bottle after years of aging in our cellars.

The riddler "riddles", or turns, the bottles a quarter turn at a time, to draw the sediment into the neck of the bottle.

After the sediment is gathered into the neck of the bottle, we freeze the neck to trap the sediment in ice.

During the disgorging process, the ice cube containing the sediment is removed.

During the dosage process, a touch of cane sugar is added to counterbalance the Champagne's natural acidity. The amount of sugar added determines if a wine is a Brut, Demi Sec or an Ultra Brut (no sugar added).

A special machine puts the cork and wirehood on the bottle.

We check the bottles one last time to ensure that the wine is perfectly clear. At this point, we send the bottles back to the cellars for about three months.

After about three months, the bottles are brought back from the cellars to be labeled.

View of a labeling machine

The bottles are ready to be packed.

The packing is complete and the cases are ready to be shipped to our customers around the world.

For information about arranging a vineyard tour, please contact Laurent-Perrier, Inc. at marketing@ laurentperrierus.com.