Piper Heidsieck dates back to 1785 when it was Heidsieck and Company and is one of the best known Champagne houses. The story began when a minister’s son, Florens Louis Heidsiecks, fell in love with a girl from Champagne after which his ambition was to create a “cuvee worthy of a queen”. His creation quickly became a favorite regionally as well as at court. After his death, a nephew teamed with businessman Henri Guillaume Piper and their fame increased with European princes and Chinese emperors among their clients.
To many modern day Champagne collectors, it is also known as one of the most beautiful bottles, a visual prelude to the captivating contents. The dark green glass is beautifully enhanced by an intricate floral metallic “cuff” almost as though it is wrapped in lace, as a queen might be. To say this presentation is “rare” is an understatement! It is a bottle perfect for a special gift or to pop open for a milestone event.
Both were the case recently at my home – my brother-in-law, the family Champagne collector, gifted a bottle to us on what became a triple celebration. Each of our children had amazingly good news – one achieved a 4.0 GPA her first semester of grad-school and the other landed his dream job – and our son-in-law passed his licensure test with flying colors! Since hard work and dedication are to be rewarded, nothing but the best would suffice.
We opened the perfectly chilled bottle well before dinner so that we could savor and focus on the wine itself. That turned out to be a great decision as this is a feast for the senses. In the glass, the color alone made one’s mouth water – pale yellow with just a touch of spring green, the very fine bubbles glistening as they rose to the surface. On the nose, we immediately noticed a mélange of fruit from tropical, like mango, to a soft tangerine. The first sip revealed a beautifully singular flavor – Yellow Delicious apple, an aspect we all noticed and loved. This flavor was enhanced by more subtle notes of almond, lemon curd and ginger and the bead was so fine and light it reminded us of meringue! The finish was exceptionally long, reeling us even further in as the Champagne became more and more rounded and complex as time lapsed.
Wine Spectator gave the 2002 Piper Heidsieck Cuvee Rare 97 points and a “Highly Recommended” designation – so does my family! Just 2500 cases were made and countless occasions were toasted since it was released, so getting it now for the best celebrations ahead is a great idea. We have a few cases in stock at $145 a bottle, in my opinion money well spent to make an occasion go from “special” to “rare”!