Thank you Rodrigo and Brad for your feedback. I will see if the cork yields any clues, and Brad- it would seem that either way I am in for a real treat given the two blend possibilities you note. On the hopes there were more bottles, I visited a couple of other local Total Wine stores today- but they had #24 (which I did go ahead and procure), so it seems I lucked out with those other two. One great thing about Total Wine is that if you go to their stores that are not in areas well traveled by high end wine consumers- you can find some real gems in the cold storage area.
Brad- to add to your commentary on the handling of Grand Siecle, I have to agree. The wine is magnificent, but just not marketed with the ruthless savvy of the other tete de cuvees perhaps.
When I was in college and grad school in the late 90s and working in wine retail- I had the good fortune to work for a store in Austin that did a great deal of volume in champagne. I went to a lot of trade tastings in addition to buying bottles for myself. The basic NV Laurent-Perrier wines were some of our best sellers along with Taittinger. I sold those wines in remarkable volumes. And I still remember with perfect clarity the day we got 2 bottles of 1990 Grand Siecle in the store. Not a case- just 2 bottles. And I bought them, and drank them and fell hopelessly in love with the wine. And yet despite the fact I could sell several cases a week of their NV offerings, I never could get any more 1990 GC from our distributor. Nor was it something easily found in other shops.
Maybe the quantity is very small? Perhaps it is so popular in Europe that they were never compelled to market it in the US in the way that is necessary for a tete de cuvee to establish itself? I do not know. But I grab up Grand Siecle whenever I spot it- and I usually enjoy it in very small groups where we can savor it in the context of a lovely evening versus just having a small sip or two during a large group tasting.
I had a similar question. I purchased two bottles locally. The salesguy told me it was iteration 25. I see no obvious means of verifying that. When I asked him, he said that was what the distributor had told him it was. I saw an etched number on the bottle, but I don’t see anywhere I could look up to decipher the number. Can anyone help me?
You probably had Iteration 23. I believe they started labeling the 750’s starting with Iteration 24 and the magnums starting with Iteration 23 which was released a couple of months ago.
Only current way to know (if the bottle isn’t labeled with an iteration number), is to look at the cork code (and sometimes also the label design). this can often narrow it down to 1-2 iterations of this wine.
Did you ever figure out what you have?
I just picked up a bottle without Iteration # on the neck but the same serial number on the back label. It was a small local liquor store with a crazy deal but zero knowledge.
I have no clue which iteration this is…
Ben,
I found the answer in this thread! Comments #12 and #13 decode the information on the cork. If I saw a crazy deal on the Grand Siecle, I’d clear them out, then open one bottle and check the cork code.
Cheers,
Warren
Thanks! So I can not tell without removing the foil? That’s frustrating. And the numbers on the back label don’t tell me anything?
Sadly only got this one. This was a Drizzly deal ($50 off $125).
With the bottle att a very competitive $129 at full price, the $50 off really made this a no-brainer.
However, I don’t know the iteration and it looks like prices and score vary significantly between them.
Edit: Ah, I think I missed the answer there in the previous posts. Looks like it #24 then? I am surprised it doesn’t have the number on the neck then as I thought they started this with the #24th edition.
Iteration 24 was labeled as such on the neck, so yours is an older iteration. Post a photograph of the label. I have some really old ones, and the labels have changed in time.
With some reddit help I think I have narrowed to 21 or 22. That os right between they changed label design (older) and indicated iteration (newer).
However, I understand some iterations were released in Mag only so I might even be able to narrow further…
I opened another older LP last night. When I get a moment, I’ll post it on the “What Champagne” thread. This was from before they labeled the iterations. The cork code was B71E0, so I’m thinking this was disgorged the second quarter of 2017. I’m guessing Iteration 22 ('99-'02-'04) or 23 ('02-'04-'06). Regardless of what blend, it was outstanding. @Brad_Baker, can you narrow it down for me?
Thanks!
Warren
It is a No. 23 Iteration (2002-2004-2006) and it is a really, really good one. I rate it as the best since the 1993/1995/1996 blend (No. 18) and better than the more recent No. 24 and No. 25. This is likely to go down as one of the all-time great Grand Siècles in my book.
Resurrecting this thread, since I got a few bottles of Grand siecle from an auction and am trying to figure out which iteration they might be. There is no number on the bottle which would point to them being somewhat older. But the print on the cork says D22IF and G26 with a smaller font on top of that. Doesn’t this point to disgorgement in 2022? Would it mean version 26 which I guess is the latest one? Is there any explanation as to why the iteration number is not on the bottle? I think these came from a restaurant - could it be that they label some bottles differently?
The champagne itself was extremely fresh and energetic, so if it was an older bottle, there was no sign of that present.
Unfortunately it seems that without realizing its significance for research my wife threw the cork away… But it only had those codes I mentioned above written on it.
Just wondering how a -22 disgorgement doesn’t have the iteration number on the bottle, but maybe I’m missing something.
