Summary
Piper-Heidsieck emerged in 1834 from the already established house Heidsieck (founded in 1785) and remained family-owned until 1989.
Once a very prestigious and cool brand, the house shifted toward strong expansion into the mass market from the late 1960s onward, which damaged its reputation. Quality improved significantly after the merger with Charles Heidsieck and especially under cellar master Daniel Thibault (from the 1990s).
The main beneficiary of this quality turnaround is the prestige cuvée Rare Champagne, which has been positioned as a standalone brand since 2018/2019, while still being produced in the cellars of Piper-Heidsieck.
Régis Camus (eight-time “Sparkling Winemaker of the Year” at the International Wine Challenge) continued the quality work until handing over to Émilien Boutillat in 2022.
Rare Champagne
Positioning and Production
Piper-Heidsieck’s vintage champagnes were legendary until the 1960s. Vintages such as 1945, 1953 and 1955 are among the absolute highlights in Champagne history.
In 1961 the prestige cuvée Florens-Louis was introduced. The best grapes were now reserved exclusively for this cuvée, which had a negative impact on the quality of the standard vintage champagnes.
With the 1976 vintage, Rare replaced Florens-Louis as the flagship. Stylistically there is very strong continuity — many experts therefore speak more of a renaming than of a completely new cuvée.
Rare is only produced in truly exceptional years (so far including 1976, 1979, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013).
Composition
Rare Millésime consists of approximately 70% Chardonnay. This comes not only from the Côte des Blancs, but also from Trépail and Villers-Marméry in the Montagne de Reims — terroirs where Chardonnay becomes particularly rich and ripe.
The roughly 30% Pinot Noir mainly originates from the Grand Cru villages of Verzy, Verzenay, Ambonnay and Mailly-Champagne.
Style
Young vintages display exotic fruit, citrus, minerality and spice. In the medium stage of maturity, petrol- and kerosene-like notes often appear, reminiscent of Riesling. With longer aging, complex roasted aromas develop: toast, coffee, nougat, hazelnut, dried fruit, honey and smoke. Rare Rosé follows a similar concept but contains significantly more Pinot Noir.
History
Florens-Louis Heidsieck (1749–1828), a cloth merchant from Westphalia, founded the company Heidsieck & Cie in Reims in 1785, trading both in fabrics and champagne. He is said to have personally supplied champagne to Queen Marie-Antoinette. Upon his death in 1828, his nephew Christian Heidsieck took over his shares and brought Henri-Guillaume Piper on board as a partner. When Christian died in 1835, his widow married Mr. Piper, giving rise to the double name of the house.
In the 19th century the house became one of the strongest exporters of champagne and was a purveyor to several European courts, including the Russian imperial family, the German Emperor, the British Crown and other monarchies.
After the death of Henri-Guillaume Piper in 1870, his long-time partner Jacques-Charles Théodore Kunkelmann took over the house. He continued it under the name Kunkelmann & Cie and significantly expanded its international presence, especially in the United States.
In 1930 his granddaughter Yolande d’Aulan renamed the house back to Piper-Heidsieck.
Her son François d’Aulan ran Piper from 1956 until the sale to the Hériard-Dubreuil family in 1989. They integrated Piper-Heidsieck and Charles Heidsieck into the Rémy-Cointreau group in 1991. After being forced to sell Krug in 1999, Piper-Heidsieck was sold to the EPI group in 2011. EPI built a new winery and acquired additional vineyards.
Since 2018, Piper-Heidsieck and its sister house Charles Heidsieck have shared a modern winery on the southern outskirts of Reims.
Vineyards and Grapes
Within the group, Piper-Heidsieck shares almost 70 hectares of owned vineyards with Charles Heidsieck.
In the Montagne de Reims the house owns plots in Verzy, Verzenay, Ambonnay, Bouzy, Mailly-Champagne and others. On the Côte des Blancs it has vineyards in Avize, Oger, Cramant and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.
The house sources grapes from over 240 growers across more than 110 crus, the vast majority of which are classified as Grand Cru and Premier Cru.
Production and Cellar Technique
Vinification is carried out parcel by parcel and separated by grape variety. For the highest-quality cuvées, only the juice from the first pressing (cuvée) is used. Most base wines are fermented and aged in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks.
In the 1990s Daniel Thibault consistently introduced malolactic fermentation, resulting in significantly more fruit-forward and approachable wines.
Lees aging takes place in the historic chalk cellars (crayères). Riddling (remuage) is now mostly done mechanically (gyropalette), with only very few special bottlings still riddled by hand.
Dosage for most cuvées is in the Brut range (approx. 8–10 g/l); Rare is usually dosed between 7–9.5 g/l.
