Charles Heidsieck, Brut Reserve, Champagne, France, NV

Overview of the Wine
From the very start, the wines of Charles Heidsieck managed to seduce the royal courts of Europe. Today, the House’s wines are awarded the highest accolades by professional juries across the world. The quantity of medals and trophies regularly earned by Charles Heidsieck is simply extraordinary. The winemaking team has been awarded the “Winemaker of the Year” trophy nine times by the UK International Wine Challenge.

Régis Camus joined Charles Heidsieck in 1994 and has been the head winemaker of the House since 2002. This meticulous and passionate professional likes to keep an eye on everything: the state of the vineyards, the selection of the grapes, their pressing and their vinification, cru by cru, in individual vats. His mission is to perpetuate the Charles Heidsieck style, reflecting the richness of the Champagne region.

Grape / Blend
40% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay and 20% Meunier

Origin
Champagne, France

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
A deep golden robe. Delicate vivacious and long-lasting bubbles are the result of more than 36 months of ageing in chalk cellars. With 40% of reserve wines (the maximum possible amount), the blend offers a complex, voluptuous nose with notes of freshly baked brioche and the richness of roasted coffee beans. A precise selection of wines, purposely limited to 60 crus, ensures the Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve a deliciously sophisticated harmony. An opulent selection of ripe, sun-drenched fruits such as mango, apricot, and greengage plum combines with dried fruits, pistachio and almond. The texture is reminiscent of a crisp layer of nougatine on a velvety cream pastry filled with plump red plums and ripe cherries. The reserve wines, some dating back ten years give the wine lushness. The depth of the thousand-year-old chalk quarries where the wine matures offer a touch of praline along with notes of amber and vanilla.

94 Points - James Suckling
Remarkable depth of mature aromas - tons of candied lemon peel, dried pear and brioche - plus wonderful textural richness on the palate make this stand out amongst the regular Brut NVs. Then comes the intense and very long, mineral finish to crown this prince of the category. Based on 2016 base wines, but with 52% reserve wines, almost a third of which were 10 to 20 years of age. Drink or hold.

93 Points - Decanter 
One of the best value grandes marques on the market, a blend of 60 crus, with roughly a third each of Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay, vinified individually by cru and variety, in stainless steel. Compared to other grandes marques, it is high (40%) in reserve wines, averaging 10 years old and dating back to 1990. Quite a floral style with lemon sherbet intensity and bready, leesy characters. It has great concentration and complexity, with a lovely grip of acidity on the finish.

92 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Based on the 2014 vintage, complemented by fully 40% old reserve wines, the new release of Charles Heidsieck's NV Brut Réserve was disgorged earlier this year. It's showing very well, opening up in the glass with notes of green apple, dried white flowers, pear, candied peel and walnuts. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with a textural attack and a racier, tighter-knit core than either the 2012- or 2010-base renditions, displaying good concentration and underlying richness. This is a bottling that continues to punch above its weight and which both merits and rewards a few years in the cellar before opening. Rating: 92+

Product size: 750ml