- Colour Champagne_Sparkling
- Producer Charles Heidsieck
- Region Champagne
- Grape Chardonnay / Pinot Noir / Pinot Meunier
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available Now
NV - Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve (2016 Base) - 6x75cl
- Colour Champagne Sparkling
- Producer Charles Heidsieck
- Region Champagne
- Grape Chardonnay / Pinot Noir / Pinot Meunier
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available Now
Select pricing type
Need help? Call +44 (0)20 7793 7900 or email wine@goedhuis.com.
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Goedhuis, August 2021
A brilliantly easy drinking Champagne full of exuberant citrus, marmalade, and pear notes layered atop toasty brioche complexities, honeysuckle, and sweet crème patissiere. Lively and refreshing with a tangy seam of acidity and a mineral core. There is a silky texture thanks to the fine persistent bubbles and the whole ensemble is beautifully balanced between richness and vibrancy.
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Jancis Robinson, July 2021, Score: 18+
“Based on the 2016 vintage. 40% Pinot Noir, 19% Pinot Meunier, 41% Chardonnay. Dosage 10 g/l. This is the first MEC that has some oak influence: 6% barrel-aged for texture. 46% reserve wine, the oldest is Cramant 1996. Average age of reserve wines is 10 years. Disgorged January 2020 and the first vintage to be bottled using the jetting technique and Diam Mytik closure. Full malo as on all these wines, though current winemaker Cyril Brun is keeping some no-malo reserve wines as a weapon against climate change. Subtle lemony nose. Stony, too, with the merest hint of white blossom, holds up really well in the glass. The smoky, reductive character is very slight but highlights the mineral/stony aspect. The citrus fruit and peel are ripe but there is masses of tension. The mousse is fine and gentle and also lasts really well in the glass. Becomes a little more toasty with air. Deep yet extremely refined, pulling in to a precise finish. (JH)
Producer
Charles Heidsieck
Widely considered one of the great names of Champagne, Charles Heidsieck was founded in 1851 by the original ‘Champagne Charlie’, Charles-Camille Heidsieck, a man who ‘broke America’ and popularised Champagne across the pond in the 1800s. More recently, the house’s considerable success can be attributed to the strength and depth of its winemaking team which, between them, have received the ‘Sparkling Winemaker of the Year’ at the International Wine Challenge 16 times (no other house has won more than twice!) At Charles Heidsieck, the emphasis is on simplicity, which can be seen in the production of their Brut Réserve; grapes are sourced from 60 different ‘crus’ across the region, while fermentation and ageing of the base wines takes place primarily in stainless steel to preserve freshness. The pièce de resistance, however, comes in the form of the rare gem Blanc des Millénaires. Released after almost 15 years of ageing, in Charles Heidsieck’s 2,000-year-old (UNESCO World Heritage) Gallo-Roman chalk cellars, this Blanc de Blancs is simply outstanding and is one of the rarest on the market.
Region
Champagne
Champagne, the world's greatest sparkling wine, needs little introduction - with imitations produced in virtually every country capable of growing grapes, including such unlikely candidates as India and China. The Champagne region, to the north of Paris, has the most northerly vineyards in France, with vines grown on slopes with a southerly exposure to maximise sunlight. The soil is chalky, providing an excellent balance of drainage and water retention. The key to the wine is in the cellar - the bubbles result from a second fermentation in the bottle and the rich toasty flavours in great Champagne come from extended bottle ageing on the yeasty lees. Until the eighteenth century, the wines produced in the Champagne area were light acidic white wines, with no hint of sparkle. However glass and closure technology developed at that time and it was not long before Dom Perignon, a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Hautvilliers, started experimenting with blends and produced the first recognisable champagne. In a world accustomed to still wines, the advent of champagne was almost a flop. It was saved when it became fashionable at the French court as a result of Louis XV's mistress Madame de Pompadour commenting "Champagne is the only wine that lets a woman remain beautiful after she has drunk it." And the rest is history, with famous (or infamous) champagne lovers including Casanova, Dumas, Wagner, Winston Churchill, James Bond and Coco Chanel.
