At just 29 years of age, Charles-Camille Heidsieck decided to create his eponymous House in 1851. Despite being an heir – the Heidsiecks were one of the most respected families in the champagne world – he decided to forge his own path and establish his own dynasty, eager to embark on his own entrepreneurial journey.
Since then, he has continued to inspire his heirs, to show them the way, to fascinate them. On the occasion of the bicentenary of Charles-Camille Heidsieck's birth, the House has therefore decided to adorn its Brut Réserve cuvée and make it a refined and elegant Collector's Edition, a temple to its founder.
Complex and, therefore, intriguing
TO THE EYE
A deep golden robe marked by a delicate, orchestrated and persistent effervescence, the result of a slow and long maturing process in chalk cellars.
ON THE NOSE
The 50% reserve wines give an elegant nose: freshly baked brioche, roasted notes and ripe, sun-kissed fruits - mango, apricot, mirabelle plum - as well as dried fruit, pistachio and almond.
ON THE PALATE
The texture evokes the crunch of a layer of nougatine on a melting cream, with fleshy fruits, plums and cherries. The smoothness is provided by the selection of reserve wines. The finish reveals amber and vanilla notes as well as a touch of praline…
It is with the Brut Réserve that the House expresses the quintessence of its style. Particularly recognizable by its generosity, precision and depth, this multi-vintage wine offers a complex and greedy nose and an unctuous palate, a guarantee of quality that experts and wine critics from all over the world distinguish with their eyes closed.
THREE FOUNDING CRUS, ESSENTIAL TO THE CHARLES SIGNATURE
Of the sixty Champagne crus chosen to produce this emblematic cuvée, three are pillars of the Brut Réserve style:
Oger: (Grand Cru Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs) gives it its fleshy and generous notes.
Ambonnay: (Grand Cru Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims) is synonymous with power, structure and fruity notes.
Verneuil: (Meunier from the Vallée de la Marne), ensures its balance and smooth texture.
Blending: 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay and 20% Meunier.
Vinification: Cru by cru, varietal by varietal, in stainless steel vats. 5 to 10% of wine vinified in old Burgundy oak barrels.
French artist Catherine Gran was entrusted with this ‘special edition’ project for the Brut Réserve and has turned the bottle into Charles’ temple: a design rooted in history and the vine, building the House as an architectural blend and looking to the sky for the future.
Catherine’s design linework, both staggeringly precise and delicate, and the subtlety of her living, vibrant compositions, struck a chord. She works with pen and ink according to an ancestral modus operandi and her aesthetic universe is timeless. Catherine likes the idea of a continuum across time, of natural beauty and ornamental elegance and her work joined the Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris collection in 2017.
