For for the 18th year in a row Richard Juhlin went to Copenhagen to enjoy ‘The Copenhagen Tasting’ by Björn Leisner @ Sölleröd Kro*. [read the full champagne story]
Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
In general, it can be said that Piper-Heidsieck has always been a fantastic champagne house that has gone under the radar and is often overlooked when the top champagne producers are graded. Only my friend Eddi di Biaggio is the exception as he holds the house as the first in all of Champagne along with Charles Heidsieck, thanks to their unmistakable roasted aromas. Piper-Heidsieck originates from the same firm as all three Heidsieck houses, namely Heidsieck & Co, which was founded in 1785 by Florens-Louis Heidsieck.
The wines are made today by skilled Émilien Boutillat.
Richard Juhlin
Piper owns 65 hectares and buys grapes from 70 villages. The wines are centrifuged, but previously never subjected to malolactic fermentation, which led to clear wines without extract. Today, Piper makes a softer and more approachable champagne with a combination of malic acid and lactic acid based vinification. All champagnes from the company gain enormously on aging and prestige champagne Rare in both white and rosé form are brilliantly elegant masterpieces as you will see below.
In August 2023, I updated my already huge tasting record of the fantastic prestige champagnes from Piper-Heidsieck at an extremely extensive Rare tasting at the eminent and star-studded Sölleröd Kro north of Copenhagen. A private Danish Champagne aficionado named Bjørn Leisner who conducted the same type of tastings 18 years in a row with all the biggest champagne names had collected the wines over 25 years. The whole event was as usual superbly managed with bottles in optimal condition and we in the Scandinavian tasting group enjoyed a wonderful full day with colossal amounts of first class food and Piper Rare and Florens-Louis in at least as copious amounts.
From lunch to dinner, he managed to present 26 different more or less magnificent wines from the delicious champagne house in Reims.
RICHARD JUHLIN
