Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle Champagne Masterclass in Chicago

Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle Itération N°24, poured from bottle and then from magnum, is the glass to watch at this Chicago masterclass. Same cuvée, same 2007, 2006, and 2004 composition, two formats, and time speaking in different registers. See the official event listing for tickets and the current wine list.

The Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle masterclass is scheduled for Saturday, October 24, 2026, during La Fête du Champagne Chicago. The session runs from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM CT at Avec River North, 141 W Erie St, Chicago, IL 60654, and tickets are listed at $95 plus tax on the official La Fête event page.

Edouard Cossy, Global Director of Grand Siècle, leads the hour. The tasting is concise: Laurent-Perrier Millésimé 2018, Grand Siècle Itération N°27, Grand Siècle Itération N°24, and Grand Siècle Itération N°24 en Magnum. Exact wines and vintages are subject to change, but the stated sequence already gives serious Champagne drinkers among the more useful hours in the Chicago program.

What the Chicago masterclass will cover

La Fête du Champagne lists this masterclass within its 2026 Chicago program, which runs October 22 to 24. Inside that broader weekend, the Laurent-Perrier session keeps a disciplined focus: one house, one prestige cuvée family, one central proposition about assemblage.

Grand Siècle is Laurent-Perrier’s top Champagne, built through the blend of three complementary vintages. That matters because Grand Siècle approaches luxury through construction rather than the singular expression of one year. It treats blending as the highest craft, with each numbered iteration carrying its own composition.

For a collector, that gives the tasting a clear spine. Millésimé 2018 offers the single-vintage reference. Grand Siècle N°27 brings the announced trio of 2015, 2013, and 2012. Grand Siècle N°24 then steps back to 2007, 2006, and 2004, before returning in magnum. The class is not a survey of Champagne styles. It is a close look at how Laurent-Perrier argues for completeness through construction.

The one-hour format also helps. Champagne festivals can quickly blur into labels, dosage choices, crus, disgorgements, and changing glassware. Here, the tasting asks you to follow a single idea from the first pour to the last.

Grand Siècle, Laurent-Perrier’s argument for assemblage

Most prestige cuvées in Champagne lean on vintage identity: a declared year, a growing season, a harvest narrative. Laurent-Perrier takes another route with Grand Siècle. The house’s premise, as stated by La Fête, is that the art of assemblage can create “a well-suited year,” composing it from three complementary vintages rather than waiting for nature to provide it whole.

That is a subtle, important shift. In a vintage Champagne, the year is the frame. In Grand Siècle, the house sets the frame, then chooses the years that best serve it. The numbered iteration becomes the key piece of information, because it tells you which trio of vintages Laurent-Perrier selected for that release.

This is where a producer-led session has particular value. Grand Siècle is easy to enjoy, but it rewards precise context. With Edouard Cossy leading the masterclass as Global Director of Grand Siècle, the useful questions go beyond aroma or texture. They are about intent: why these three vintages, why this order of service, and how the house wants drinkers to think about time when the cuvée itself begins as a conversation among years.

If you already cellar Grand Siècle, the masterclass may sharpen the way you read iteration numbers. If you usually buy vintage Champagne, the sequence offers a direct comparison between a single harvest wine and Laurent-Perrier’s blended ideal.

The announced four-wine sequence

The published program names four wines, while also stating that exact wines and vintages are subject to change. That caveat matters. Anyone traveling specifically for a particular iteration or format should treat the list as the announced plan.

The opening wine, Laurent-Perrier Millésimé 2018, gives the room a clean starting point. It asks you to consider one harvest before the tasting moves into the house’s three-vintage Grand Siècle philosophy. Think of the first glass as the control point for the conversation.

Grand Siècle Itération N°27 follows with 2015, 2013, and 2012 listed as its component vintages. Then comes N°24, composed from 2007, 2006, and 2004, poured first from bottle. The fourth announced wine, N°24 en Magnum, is the collector’s hinge of the session, because it removes one variable and isolates another. The assemblage remains the same. The format changes.

That structure is pleasingly disciplined. You can taste vintage against iteration, iteration against iteration, and bottle against magnum without leaving the Laurent-Perrier universe.

Bottle and magnum: why N°24 is the collector’s comparison

The N°24 pairing is the detail to circle. Wine people often speak about magnums as if everyone has tasted the same cuvée in different formats under the same conditions. In practice, those comparisons are usually separated by years, cellars, occasions, and dinner tables. This masterclass proposes a cleaner view.

Grand Siècle Itération N°24 is crafted from 2007, 2006, and 2004, and the bottle-versus-magnum comparison is intended to show the varied timelines of evolution afforded by different formats. The value is in the question itself.

For cellar planning, the comparison could be more practical than another release score. A magnum asks for space, patience, and a different occasion. It can also change how you allocate future purchases. Do you want more iteration diversity in 750ml bottles, or fewer, larger-format bottles for longer horizons and shared tables?

With N°24 in both formats, you can listen for the shape of development rather than chase a quick preference. Does the magnum feel more reserved? Does the bottle give more immediate evolution? Or are the differences narrower than received wisdom suggests? Those are exactly the questions worth bringing to a producer-led Champagne class.

Planning the Avec River North hour

The practical details are direct: Saturday, October 24, 2026, 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM CT, Avec River North, 141 W Erie St, Chicago, IL 60654. The published price is $95 plus tax, and the presenter is Edouard Cossy, Global Director of Grand Siècle. La Fête’s official site places the Chicago edition of the festival across October 22 to 24, 2026.

Avec River North is a civilized setting for a focused tasting. Its River North address also makes the logistics easy for travelers building a Champagne weekend around La Fête. The hour is early, which is no bad thing. A clear palate will matter here, especially if you want to track the shift from Millésimé 2018 into N°27, then follow N°24 across two formats.

At $95 plus tax, the booking case rests on specificity rather than spectacle: four announced Laurent-Perrier wines, a named senior Grand Siècle presenter, a comparison involving bottle and magnum, and a central question that serious Champagne drinkers face when buying. If your interest is broad producer discovery, another La Fête event may suit you better. If your interest is Grand Siècle, format choice, and the cellar logic of assemblage, this is a neatly priced hour.

Arrive with two or three questions you cannot answer from a shelf talker. Ask how Laurent-Perrier thinks about a Grand Siècle iteration once its component vintages are set. Ask how Cossy reads N°27 against N°24. Ask what the house sees changing when N°24 moves from bottle to magnum. Strong outcome may be less about choosing a favorite glass and more about leaving Chicago with a more exact way to buy, open, and wait for Grand Siècle.