VINE & BUBBLE sat down with Émilien Boutillat, Chef de Caves of Piper-Heidsieck, for this special interview. [read the full champagne story]
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Piper-Heidsieck
★★★★
All three Heidsieck domains originate from the same company, Heidsieck & Co., which was established in 1785 by Florens-Louis Heidsieck. The Piper-Heidsieck branch was established in 1834 by Christian Heidsieck. The domain remained within the family right up until 1989, when it became part of Rémy-Cointreau. Daniel Thibault, who up until his premature death made the cuvées at Charles Heidsieck and was even responsible for Piper-Heidsieck, was always careful to maintain the separate identities of the two domains. Régis Camus followed in the same tracks and now it is time for Émilien Boutillat to follow the same road.
Piper own 65 hectares and purchase grapes from seventy villages. The wines are centrifuged, though they never used to be subjected to malolactic fermentation, which led to razor-sharp wines without extract. Nowadays Piper makes a more mellow and more easily accessible non-vintage.
All champagnes from the firm gain a great deal from cellaring, about which Piper unfortunately neglects to inform its consumers. The ’55 and the ’53 were both masterpieces, and old vintages of Florens-Louis are legendary, but during the 1970s, up until the middle of the 1990s, the house was the weakest of the Heidsieck troika.
Today they are again making brilliant champagnes, something that the fabulous 2012 proved very clearly. Their extremely lavish cellar tours are organised in the best Hollywood style, something that should suit their best customers – the Americans – admirably. As I have mentioned before, it was a train ride around Piper’s cellars that confirmed my fascination for Champagne. Then in central Reims, today in an ultramodern building in the outskirts of Reims. Thibault left a great void when he passed away in the spring of 2002.
It was a great challenge for Régis Camus to continue on his new, successful path and now its time for the young Émilien Boutillat to show the way. 2002 and 2006 Piper Rare are fantastic champagnes with its delightfully toffee-ish, roasted style. Especially the 2002 is very reminiscent of the lovely 88 and can perhaps become as good with storage. 2008 Piper Rare Rosé is another beautiful wine.
VINE & BUBBLE
Sara Underdown, publisher and presenter of VINE & BUBBLE, takes you on a journey to discover the real story of champagne – the people, the region, the history and – of course – the wine. We travel to Champagne and all over Australia, talking with the Cellar Masters, industry representatives and everyone in between to connect wine lovers with the story behind the finest bubbles of all. Make sure you follow and subscribe to get the latest podcast uploads.
