(Preview) WINES Reinventing a classic: Charles Heidsieck Brut and Rosé Réserve

This was at a time when the norm for en cave concept was bound to cause by the grande dame Lily Bollinger There’s so much more reserves was just 10–15 percent from confusion in the wider world, though and all the great women of Champagne. to the rerelease of the two or three immediately previous there was never any confusion over its She knows perfectly well, I’m sure, that years. The quality of Charles Heidsieck quality. After Thibault died in 2002, just two obstacles stand between her Champagne Charles Brut Réserve quickly assumed an he was succeeded by Régis Camus, and establishing Charles & Piper- almost mythical status, not least for who two years later removed the small Heidsieck as one of Champagne’s most Heidsieck’s Brut and displaying its signature hint of vanilla mis en cave and sensibly transferred lucrative groups: the price of Piper and Rosé Réserve Non- even though it never saw a molecule of the information to the back label; the volume of Charles. With the volume oak. And as the years went by, Thibault even this mysteriously disappeared on that Piper boasts, the smallest increase Vintage cuvées than the himself became a living legend as he bottles disgorged in 2010 through to in price can have a significant effect on replicated the style and quality of this the beginning of 2011. profit margins, which is why she wants change in bottle shape. Champagne year on year. Camus to concentrate his efforts there. For Tom Stevenson, The consistency and quality of The all-new Brut Réserve cuvées A steadily increasing price for Piper is Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve was Mis en Cave was an intellectual vital, and she knows that the slightest both are remarkable recognized even by its major marketing exercise, not a new cuvée, so hiccup in quality can set back the brand’s competitors, yet in 1997 Thibault the Brut Réserve built by Thibault back positioning by years, so Camus is key to examples of sensitively decided to relaunch this Champagne. in the late 1980s remained the bedrock price. The price of Charles is good but handled, quality- “If it ain’t broke, don’t mend it,” and the upon which the reputation of Charles nowhere near as good as it should be for Brut Réserve certainly was not broke. Heidsieck continued to rest. This time, such outstanding quality. Furthermore, minded evolution But Thibault did not want to change the however, the cuvée itself has changed. Charles Heidsieck’s Thierry Roset, who has overseen the successful reinvention of two great NV Champagnes it requires the demand for a certain cuvée; he just wanted to illustrate the If they get this wrong, the reputation volume and the visible resistance of n September 2012, Champagne difference that increased aging on of Charles Heidsieck could implode. that he could personally concentrate combination of building up massive the temptation to exceed that volume, Charles Heidsieck is due to yeast can bring to essentially the same But if the initial blends are anything on Piper-Heidsieck, the production of stocks of reserve wines and producing to achieve a significant premium in Irelaunch its Brut Réserve and Brut Champagne. He renamed it Brut to go by, Charles Heidsieck’s new which is eight times larger than that of a radically higher-quality Non-Vintage price. Roederer has demonstrated that Rosé Réserve with a new blend, bottle, Réserve Mis en Cave (mis en cave refers winemaker Thierry Roset has not only Charles Heidsieck. I have known Camus could only be achieved at the expense 2.5 million is a safe cap for the top end and label. Since it is widely accepted to the date when a Champagne is got away with mending something since he was chef de cave at Jacquart, of sales. This was why, while Thibault of quality volume, while Joseph Henriot that the modern-day reputation of this bottled and cellared) and released three that clearly was not broken, he has also where he showed great promise. But was busy weaving his magic at Charles has demonstrated that it was possible house has been squarely built on the different versions: Brut Réserve Mis successfully reinvented the wheel. although he learned so much more Heidsieck, Rémy Martin set its sights to sell 3.5 million bottles of Charles late Daniel Thibault’s reconstruction of en Cave 1992 (bottled in 1992, thus Charles Heidsieck did not need to under Thibault between 1994, when he on acquiring Piper-Heidsieck, which it Heidsieck at a relatively inexpensive the Brut Réserve, this decision must 1991-based, plus 40 percent reserve re-establish its reputation, yet that is arrived at Piper- and Charles Heidsieck, did in 1988. So, as the critics eyed the price in a global market that was just have been either brave or foolish. wine), Brut Réserve Mis en Cave 1993 exactly what the new Brut Réserve and and 2002, when his mentor died, I was decrease in sales of Charles Heidsieck, two thirds of the volume it is now. From To understand why, we have to go (1992-based), and Brut Réserve Mis Brut Rosé Réserve will achieve. not alone in expressing concern about they failed to notice Piper’s sales rise this, Bonnefond can deduce that selling back to 1985, when Joseph Henriot sold en Cave 1994 (1993-based). This was I was privileged to taste these new whether he could fill Thibault’s shoes. from 4.5 million bottles to 7–8 million. 2.5 million bottles of Charles Heidsieck Charles Heidsieck to Rémy Martin (now audacious. No house had ever marketed Champagnes at this year’s Decanter Well, he not only maintained the great Piper became the cash cow that fed at a significantly increased price is Rémy-Cointreau), a cash-rich, family- three versions of its own Non-Vintage. World Wine Awards, where Charles man’s extraordinary standards for Thibault’s voracious appetite for Charles doable, and I cannot imagine anything run Cognac house that already owned The problem was the small oval Mis en Heidsieck had slipped them in Charles Heidsieck, he also raised the Heidsieck’s quality. Thibault left some or anyone stopping her from achieving Krug (since acquired by LVMH). Cave label bearing the year of bottling. unannounced. Judged under blind quality of the Piper-Heidsieck range. stunning Vintage and Rare (older that target within the next five years. The new owners immediately tasked This was located on the front shoulder, conditions they both received If Thibault was vulnerable to any vintages) of Piper in the pipeline, but This is why Charles Heidsieck would Daniel Thibault, the chef de cave at in exactly the same place where many unanimous gold medals, and the Brut criticism, it was for the economic cost Camus has improved the quality of the want to reinvent the wheel and explains Charles Heidsieck since 1976, with wines display their vintage. Not Rosé Réserve went on to win the of his quality regime. As he presided Piper Brut so much that only age why Roset already had the new cuvées producing the best Non-Vintage surprisingly, many people mistook the Non-Vintage Rosé Champagne Trophy. over the soaring reputation of Charles stops it being in the same league, which in the works when EPI took over. Champagne on the market bar none. mis en cave year to be a vintage year. Yes, they are that good. Heidsieck, so the house suffered for the size of its production is amazing. To accomplish this, Thibault received Journalists did their best to inform To appreciate Roset’s efforts, we diminishing sales, dwindling from the Since the new owner, EPI, has little New cuvées, same quality and style the funding not only to purchase the otherwise, and sommeliers at the best need to put him into context with 3.5 million bottles immediately prior to experience of wine and absolutely none Although they are, indeed, totally new very best grapes he could lay his hands restaurants understood, of course. But Régis Camus, who, as director of vines its acquisition by Rémy Martin, to barely of Champagne, the company hired cuvées, it has always been Charles on but also to build up the enormous even in the Champagne region, some and wines for both Piper- and Charles more than 1 million bottles. It is even Cécile Bonnefond, the former head of Heidsieck’s aim to keep the quality and stocks of reserve wines required to less clued-up restaurants had these Heidsieck, recently put this enologist in less today, perhaps just 800,000 bottles. Veuve Clicquot. Bonnefond has the style exactly the same. Roset has been blend an unprecedented 40 percent of wines listed as Vintages. If it was not charge of Charles Heidsieck production. What his critics often missed was the unstoppable drive of Carol Duval, the involved in the blending of every cuvée reserve wine from no fewer than eight fully understood in their own backyard, Camus retains oversight, of course, but big picture. Neither Thibault nor Rémy fearsome intellect of Christine Lagarde, of Brut Réserve and Brut Rosé Réserve different vintages into the Brut Réserve. Charles Heidsieck realized that the mis he handed over day-to-day control so / Champagne Charles & Piper-Heidsieck of Liberty Wines courtesy Photography Martin was stupid; they knew that the and the passion for quality displayed since 1992, when the very first Mis en

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Cave was bottled. He, therefore, has a Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve color. This is a Champagne that looks so though they have been built to evolve clear sense of what the house style is (12% ABV; bottled 2008, disgorged 2011) perfect in the glass that you know it is going at a slower rate. The narrower neck and describes it succinctly as “a balance This (2007-based) cuvée is lighter in color to blow you away, and it does. No wonder it helps, of course, but the reduction in than either of the two releases of the “old” won the Non-Vintage Rosé Trophy at the between complexity and generosity.” Brut Réserve. This is only to be expected: Decanter World Wine Awards. The reduced oxygen has less effect compared to Over time, Roset believes he has worked Although the most recent of those releases reserve-wine content gives the Brut Rosé the intrinsically slower aging potential out how to create the “same wine” with was also disgorged in 2011, that wine was Réserve its sustained freshness of fruit on of the wine itself, and it is Roset’s fewer crus and slightly older reserve 2006-based and thus one year older. It is the palate, but 20 percent reserves is not honing of the crus, particularly the wines. The Brut Réserve has always also crisper and younger, with the insignificant, particularly considering the increase of Chardonnay from Oger, Chardonnay element slightly more dominant age of those wines, and the red wine adds comprised between 110 and 120 crus, than it would be in the “old” Brut Réserve at a degree of instant mellow complexity that that has achieved this. He has retained but Roset’s tweaked version contains the same age. This gives Roset’s new blend is not yet present in the Brut Réserve, despite the essential style and character of the just 60 crus, and in this assemblage more focus and less mellowness, but it is its double helping of reserve wine. This is a old cuvées, but there is more intensity there is even more emphasis on Oger not all top and no bottom, since the additional very classy Champagne rosé that continues at the heart of the new Champagne, (for Chardonnay), Ambonnay (for Pinot age of reserves builds up more richness to build in the glass. It is very similar in style and consequently the aging process and intensity in the background. The balance to both “old” cuvées of Brut Rosé Réserve, Noir), and Verneuil (for Meunier)—the of these wines takes longer to move and extreme precision of the acidity is a yet it has immediately outshone those that three crus that have always been the clear match, and the new cuvée still has have gone before. through the gears. This really is very heart and soul of this Champagne. some of the peppery-spice complexity (the clever indeed, because Roset has There is still a huge 40 percent of precursor to vanilla in Charles Heidsieck Conclusion fashioned these Champagnes to reserve wine, but the reserves now go Champagne) of the “old” style, though it Occasionally, some blends of the “old” perform brilliantly however fast or back more than ten years (actually, 15 does not yet have the haunting hints of Brut Réserve gave me pause for slow they might sell. Should sales be toast found in the 2006-based Brut Réserve years for the first release) instead of or the mellowing toasty aromas and thought when they were first released, sluggish, the new Brut Réserve and the previous norm of “just” eight years fleeting vanilla glimpses of the 2005-based. only for those very same blends to Brut Rosé Réserve will retain their (though in some blends this went back than on a regular Champagne bottle gives Champagne critics much of what Inspired winemaking. show their true class after a little more freshness, but if Charles Heidsieck ten years). The Brut Rosé Réserve and this serves a solid technical they have been arguing for over the bottle age. By increasing the age of starts flying off the shelf, the greater receives only 20 percent reserves, and purpose. The narrower the neck, the past ten years—namely both the Charles Heidsieck Brut Rosé Réserve the reserve wines, Roset seems to have age of the formidable reserve wines (12% ABV; bottled 2008, disgorged 2011) for both cuvées the reserve wines are smaller the head space, and the less bottling and disgorgement date. Now Essentially the same wine as the Brut Réserve resolved that minor issue through will paper over any cracks if they have exclusively Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. room for oxygen—thus, the slower the consumers are able to find out how with only half the reserves, but with more immediate gravitas in the new to rush shipments on to the market. In Meunier is integral to the Brut Réserve rate of evolution. The Brut Réserve and old the wine is and how much post- 6 percent red wine, which gives the wine Champagnes. Only time will tell, of short, Roset has given Bonnefond the style—but for part of the wine’s Brut Rosé Réserve neck is slightly disgorgement aging it has had, while Charles Heidsieck’s signature pale-salmon course, but these new cuvées feel as perfect ammunition. freshness, not as an aged component. narrower than the new Bollinger bottle, those who do not understand or care The color of the Brut Rosé Réserve is which Mathieu Kauffman claims about such information (which is most achieved by the addition of 6 percent benefits from a 10 percent reduction Champagne producers’ excuse for not red wine from Ambonnay, Bouzy and in total package oxygen, 5 percent supplying the information) won’t Fine Wine at Auction | Fine Wine-Online Les Riceys. The final proportion of reduction in the oxygen transfer rate bother to look for it. The month of Including Selections from the Cellar of a Port Connoisseur October 31, 12NOON - November 8, 8PM grape varieties has not changed, there before disgorgement, and 5–10 percent disgorgement would have been better October 30, 2012, 63 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116 being 40 percent Chardonnay, 40 reduction in the oxygen transfer rate than just the year, since there can be Contact: percent Pinot Noir, and 20 percent after disgorgement. Charles Heidsieck almost 24 months between a January Marie Keep: +1.508.970.3296 Meunier in the Brut Réserve, and 35 should therefore benefit by at least the disgorgement one year and a December percent Chardonnay, 45 percent Pinot same margins. disgorgement the next, and a three-year Domaine de la Romanee Conti 2001 Assortment Case, Cote de Nuits Michael Moser: +1.508.970.3133 Noir, and 20 percent Meunier in the Since presentation is very much gap between bottling and disgorgement [email protected] Brut Rosé Réserve. part of the package for these two new can be as little as two years if January www.skinnerinc.com The squatter bottles used for the cuvées, I feel compelled to comment on to December, or as much as four if new blends are known in-house as the labeling, something I seldom bother December to January. But I should crayères, because their shape is to do because all that really matters is not be churlish, since this level of reminiscent of the cross-section of the the quality of the wine inside the bottle. information is hard to find elsewhere. Gallo-Roman crayères (chalk cellars) The new labels are not bad as such, but that are found in Reims. This type of they do look very much like works in What do they taste like? bottle is becoming a popular choice progress. They do not possess the class I tasted both cuvées in plain sight and for Champagne producers who are of the previous labels, particularly the side by side with the last release of relaunching individual cuvées and old pastel-colored Brut Rosé Réserve the “old” Brut Réserve and Brut Rosé sometimes an entire range. However, label. It is probably much too early for Réserve (2006-based, bottled 2007, whereas the main body of this style of artistic criticism to be well received, disgorged 2011) and the first release of bottle is squatter than a traditional but when those involved are sufficiently the previous “old” Brut Réserve and Champagne bottle—lending it, removed from the combined effort to Brut Rosé Réserve (2005-based, bottled according to the marketing people, get these new cuvées from the cellar to 2006, disgorged 2009) to see if the some sort of additional gravitas that the shelf, I hope that they will be able to new Champagne blends live up to can be translated into a higher price recognize that the front label was a step Roset’s seemingly contradictory claim bracket—the neck is far more slender backward. The back label, however, of being the same but different.

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