The original Heidsieck house, located in the traditional Champagne town of Riems, dated from 1785. This is what then became Piper Heisdsieck. Charles Heidsieck broke off from that house in the 1800s.

I'll noe that Rob said to "make some noise" when you open a bottle of Champagne, but I really disagree with that :) To me that'd be like pouring some port down the sink to celebrate it's opening! I want all that yummy liquid in my glass, not on the floor. I open bottles with finesse, and the pleasure is in my lips touching the liquid. I don't need noise to be happy :)

Cuvee Brut
We began with the Piper-Heidsieck Cuvee Brut. This is a blend of 55% pinot noir, 30% pinot meunier and 15% chardonnay. It's aged on lees for 24 months. The vineyards are in Coledes Blanc, Montague de Reims and Vallee de la Marne. There were large bubbles in this compared to the subsequent wines we tasted, but I do have to point out that we were drinking from little plastic glasses. It would have been nice if they warned us to bring our own flutes if we wanted :) Still, we could taste the honey, vanilla, a hint of coffee in this. It was on the sweet side, with almost a candied flavor to it. It's certainly not as sweet as an Asti Spumante, but those who find "real" Champagnes to be dry and tasteless would probably enjoy this one.

Rose Sauvage
Many people think that a pink wine is automatically sweet. That's not true at all! Many luxurious dry wines are pink in color. This rose is 55% pinot noir, 30% pinot meunier and 15% chardonnay. Note that these are the exact same percentages as the previous wine! It's just a winemaking technique that makes this one pinker. The salmon-red color had much smaller bubbles in it. It was certainly not super sweet - rather it had a berry, raspberry cherry flavor to it. It was a very crisp, light flavor.

Rose Sublime
This sweet dessert wine is 55% pinot noir, 30% pinot meunier, and 15% chardonnay. It is a "demi-sec" level of sweetness, with a residual sugar of 45 g/l. Normal Champagne is about 10 g/l. It's aged on lees for 24 months. Gold in color, it had flavors of honey and vanilla, and was a bit oily and tingly on the tongue.

How Champagne is Made
Charles Heidsieck
Heisdieck Champagne Tasting Main Page

Champagne Reviews and Tasting Notes