This is the Champagne formerly known as Royale Réserve — Philipponnat renamed it to put the actual method on the label. The perpetual reserve is a solera: a portion of every vintage goes into wooden barrels that already hold every vintage before it, so each bottle carries a thread running back through decades of the house's history. Roughly half the blend here is reserve wine, Pinot Noir-dominant with Chardonnay and a touch of Meunier, then aged three years on the lees — double the legal minimum. Philipponnat is best known for Clos des Goisses, the steepest and most famous walled vineyard in Champagne, and that seriousness trickles all the way down to this bottle. It's a house style built on depth rather than sugar.