Heidsieck & Co. Winery

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  September 2009

  Piper Heidsieck Extra Dry

  Snoothrank: Starting at $26^.99

  Fault...drinkable after 30 min, but not pleasant. Will review again.

  Wine review by Athon

  
  
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  August 2009

  Charles Heidsieck Champagne Champagne Charlie Brut Oenotheque 1982

  Snoothrank:

  Just finishing off a bottle of 1982 Charles Heidsieck after a fillet steak and a nice bottle of red wine. Really nice and after 27 years of storage. Extremely smooth & crisp. Well worth waiting for.

  Wine review by Alan Spain

  
  
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  July 2009

  Heidsieck Monopole Champagne Brut Gold Top Monopole 2001

  Snoothrank:

  No written review

  Wine review by Irwin

  
  
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  January 2009

  Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Brut NV

  Snoothrank:

  This wine was a pale straw color in the glass. The nose has some nice aromas of biscuit, yeast, and minerals. Nice medium mousse on the palate with potent acidity. Citrus fruit notes throughout. Nice long finish that goes on for a minute or so. I like the way the flavors and... Read moreThis wine was a pale straw color in the glass. The nose has some nice aromas of biscuit, yeast, and minerals. Nice medium mousse on the palate with potent acidity. Citrus fruit notes throughout. Nice long finish that goes on for a minute or so. I like the way the flavors and components fit together and balance each other out in this wine. Very good, 4+ out of 5. This wine can sometimes be found on special for less than $30, which presents a great quality to price ratio.    (hide)

  Wine review by ttutony

  
  
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  January 2009

  Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Brut NV

  Snoothrank:

  No written review

  Wine review by airbag3333

  
  
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  January 2009

  Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve NV

  Snoothrank:

  No written review

  Wine review by michelgoldstein

  
  
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  December 2008

  Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve NV

  Snoothrank:

  No written review

  Wine review by Moglandor

  
  

• December 2008

  With Black Friday and Internet Monday behind us with a swift kick to the start ... Pipers. How about Piper-Heidsieck Champagne?  Although good, I prefer Delamotte, Salon’s second label.  I’ll go Non Vintage on this one at $40 a bottle.  Total: $440. Ten lords a-leaping,... Read moreWith Black Friday and Internet Monday behind us with a swift kick to the start ... Pipers. How about Piper-Heidsieck Champagne?  Although good, I prefer Delamotte, Salon’s second label.  I’ll go Non Vintage on this one at $40 a bottle.  Total: $440. Ten lords a-leaping, Frog’s Leap, of course.  I’ll take ten bottles of 2003 Cabernet.  A Snooth search found the wines at $31/bottle.  A steal at $310. Nine ladies dancing, Champagne gets everyone dancing, but I got my fill already.  So, how about slow dancing with DuMOL’s 2006 Chardonnay “Isobel.”  Upon mailing list release the wine cost something like $60 a bottle.  That’s $540. Eight maids a-milking, Milk and wine don’t mix.  But the PNC report suggests that the “maids” would be eight minimum wage farmhands.  In California, minimum wage equals $8 an hour.  My favorite $8 wine is… who am I kidding?  I can’t remember the last $8 wine I drank and this is a wish list.  So, how about $50 a bottle; then, I’ll take ten bottles of Saint-Julien “Third Growth” Chateau Lagrange (2005).  There will be a great many wines on this list; some will need a little cellaring. $400. Seven swans a-swimming, It would be easy to insert a Joseph Swan Pinot Noir here, but instead, I am going to accept all seven Domaine de la Romanee-Conti wines (six Pinot Noirs and one Chardonnay).  Echezeaux, Grand Echezeaux, Romanee St. Vivant, Richebourg, La Tache, Romanee-Conti and Montrachet.  In the secondary market, DRC can fetch more than $3,000 a bottle for a recent vintage.  Seven bottles will break the budget, so why not spend $21,000 swimmingly. Six geese a-laying, Here are six bottles of wine I will need to lay down as well. A vertical of Haut-Brion starting from legendary vintage 2000 and ending with another legend, 2005.  That will cost a savvy shopper around $4,000. Five golden rings, Portia, the heroine of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, questions her prospective suitors with a choice between three casks filled with gold, silver and iron.  Win or lose her love, I’d think we’d all pick the gold.  So, I’m going with Oriel wine company’s golden delicious blend of Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Tocai, called Portia.  For twenty bucks a bottle; times five, that’s a mere $100. Four calling birds, I’ll give into buying by the label on this one and begrudgingly accept four bottles of Blackbird Vineyards 2005 Proprietary Red at 80 bucks a bottle.  $320 total. Three French hens, Viognier from Condrieu is so seductive, I’ll “cap” these French hens with Rene Rostaing’s 2004 La Bonnette Condrieu.  At a total of $141, and after consuming three bottles in one night, you’ll need more than a rooster to wake me in the morning. Two turtle-doves, In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is symbolized by a dove.  In the spirit of the passing of France’s finest Sauvignon Blanc maker, Didier Dagueneau, I will take a bottle of Silex and one of Pur Sang.  That’s $131. And a partridge in a pear tree! Sticking with an alliteration, my partridge in a pear tree will be a bottle of Petrus.  How about the Roberta Parker perfect scorer from 1990?  At auction recently, it hit a high of $3,872.  A fine finisher to a list that has gone way over budget.  $36,444.  An average of $467 a bottle, egad!  But, yes (maybe), Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.  Hopefully he won’t be carrying any Virginia wines with him.  (Just kidding, you fine winemakers on the East Coast!) Dan Petroski is Assistant Winemaker at Larkmead Vineyards in Napa Valley. Dan has an MBA from New York University and worked as an Ad Exec in New York for several years, before switching it up and trading his suit for a move out west    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic The Twelve Days of Christmas by Dan

  
  

• October 2008

  When I last left off I was doing my best to stay awake in Reims to adjust to ... Veuve Clicquot, Charles Heidsieck (Piper-Heidsieck), Pommery, Taittinger, Louis Roeder and Krug.  In that same radius there are numerous other "smaller" houses.  My first stop was Ruinart. Ruinart... Read moreWhen I last left off I was doing my best to stay awake in Reims to adjust to ... Veuve Clicquot, Charles Heidsieck (Piper-Heidsieck), Pommery, Taittinger, Louis Roeder and Krug.  In that same radius there are numerous other "smaller" houses.  My first stop was Ruinart. Ruinart The house of Ruinart is one of the oldest Champagne houses in France.  It was officially established in 1729.  That precedes Moet & Chandon by 12 years.  The house was founded by Nicolas Ruinart and his uncle, the Benedictine monk Dom Thierry Ruinart.  The location of the winery is in the same place as it was founded. Dom Runiart - It is said that Dom Ruinart’s close friend was one Dom Perignon who was also a Benedictine monk and that the two shared ideas on Champagne.  Both had spent time in Paris and had come to know the value of sparkling wine. The Ruinarts were in the textile business primarily and Champagne was second.  Eventually, the textile business was abandoned and the wine side was the focus.  It was around that time that the Ruinarts did something that would preserve their name among Champagne houses.  They bought all the chalk mines in Reims.  Some of these caves were sold to other Champagne houses but many were kept for storing the Ruinart wine.  If fact Ruinart’s neighbor, Pommery, bought some caves from them.  These days Ruinart is part of the LVMH group (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy Group) but remained in the Ruinart family until 1950 and eventually became part of Moet & Chandon and finally LVMH. Champagne Caves in Reims - These chalk mines were created by the Romans around 100 AD.  As the Romans spread their empire across Europe they would seek out resources that would allow them to build structures in the image of Rome.  In Reims, this meant the use of chalk stone.  Upon the fall of the Roman empire these mines remained and many of them as much as 34 meters (about 100 feet) below the surface.  The combination of depth, humidity and material (chalk holds moisture well) make them perfect for storing wine. Visiting Ruinart is like visiting most Champagne houses.  You are given a tour of the establishment and then are given the opportunity to purchase a taste of the various offerings.  Very rarely do you have a chance to taste the range and even rarer is the tasting free.  The tour at Ruinart is definitely worth the time. There is something special about Ruinart.  It is the same but different.  Visiting the oldest Champagne house is special. As with visiting other Champagne houses, the visit at Ruinart starts with a tour and then tasting of the wines.  The tour at Ruinart is a bit different in that you visit the cellars and very little of the production area. However, the production area is nothing special but the cellars. The tour takes you deep below the surface into sets of interconnecting caves.  These caves span 6km in length.  Even in early September, the temperature changed dramatically. The newer parts of the cellar were built in the 1700s but they connect to the older chalk mine caves made by the Romans in about 100 AD.  These caves alone are worth the visit.  I don't think I have ever stepped on a site that is almost 2000 years old. I learned a number of things that would serve me well on the rest of my visit.  One of those things is the signs that appear on the stacks of Champagne bottles that are everywhere.  The signs will have three elements: 1.     The top number is the location of the wine within the caves 2.     The second number is the wine makers code for the blend 3.     The third number is the number of bottles in the stack The tour took us through a lot of the caves but there was one display that stood out for me.  Ruinart is known for its blanc de blanc champagne.  The wine comes in a clear bottle that allows you to see the brilliant golden color.  However, in the caves where light is at a minimum you can't always make this out.  So Ruinart in one section of their caves have sodium based lights (so as not to damage wine) to display the brilliance of the blanc de blanc. I didn't see any gryropallets at Ruinart but they do use them for their "R" by Ruinart which is there introduction cuvee.  Everything else is riddled by hand. The tour ends up back where you start with a choice of wines to try.  You are given a choice to try any of the wines in the range but only one wine.  The choice is tough: ·       R by Ruinar, their introductory cuvee ·       NV Blanc de Blancs - main nonvintage wine ·       NV Rose - rose nonvintage wine ·       2000 R Cuvee - vintage cuvee only available in France ·       1998 Dom Ruinart - prestige vintage cuvee ·       1998 Dom Ruinart Rose - prestige vintage rose cuvee Some quick notes about the Ruinart wines: ·       They are chardonnay heavy ·       The do not use any Pinot Meunier but do use Pinot Noir ·       They only use Premier Cru grapes ·       Prestige wines aged 10 years for Dom Ruinart and 12 years for Dom Ruinart Rose and they are not made in every vintage. Since I have access to everything but the Vintage R wine that is what I selected to try. Here are my notes: 2000 Ruinart R Cuvee (4/5) Color: Deep golden with wonderful bubbles Aroma: Traditional yeast and dough aromas but with floral … very nice Taste: Softer than expected acidity with doughy flavors and great finish Veuve Clicquot  From Ruinart it was just a quick drive over to Veuve Clicquot to stop in and make a couple of purchases.  I didn't make an appointment for a tour at Clicquot but definitely wanted to stop by.  When you arrive at Veuve, you know you are at Veuve. The orange color is everywhere at Clicquot.  It is juxtaposed against the old traditional buildings.  It does have a bit of an "in your face" kind of feel but it worked for me.  The people at Clicquot are very friendly and are very knowledgeable about the wines.   I must admit it was a bit of a surprise for me as I fully expected the emphasis to be on style and beauty rather than knowledge. After completing my purchases of vintage Veuve it was time to drive down to Epernay and visit the largest Champagne house in the nation, Moet & Chandon.  Moet & Chandon is close to the central part of Epernay.  When you approach it from the north you have to basically drive through the city center, which for me was a challenge.  I finally arrived, parked and made my way to their headquarters.  Moet & Chandon is located on "Avenue de Champagne". This street is aply named as most of the major buildings on this street belong to major Champagne houses.  They include well known houses like Pierre Jouet and Pol Roger and many lesser known ones (to me) like Vranken (who own many labels) and Mercier. Moet & Chandon  The first thing you notice about Moet & Chandon is the size.  Everything about it seems bigger than other Champagne houses.  In fact, Moet & Chandon have properties in both the US (Domaine Chandon) and Australia .  The tour at Moet & Chandon is a much about the history of the company as it is about the wine.  Moet & Chandon is part of the history of France being the wine of choice of Napoleon as well as the Tsars of Russia.  The wine caves of Moet & Chandon have served as bomb shelters, criminal storage and wine storage.  They own 1500 acres of vineyards and have an annual production of more than 2,000,000 bottles stored in more than 30 kms of subterranean caves. The tour/history lesson at Moet & Chandon ended in a tasting.  I chose to try both  the 2000 Grand Vintage and 2000 Grand Vintage Rose. 2000 Grand Vintage (3.5/5) Color: Light golden Aroma: Traditional yeast and dough aromas but somewhat muted Taste: Good acidity with sour green apple and doughy flavors 2000 Grand Vintage Rose (3/5) Color: Rich salmon color Aroma: Strawberry aroma with a touch dough Taste: Strawberry and raspberry flavors with long finish but not my style My day done I headed back to Paris.  The rest of the trip was not wine focused, it was for a friend's wedding in Italy, so I want comment to much on it other than to say it was a lot of fun.  Okay, here is one picture from it. One thing I learned in planning this trip is that touring Champagne is not like touring wineries in California.  Champagne is a more formal and draws a larger world wide audience.  Appointments are required in almost every place and a significant number of Champagne houses are closed to the public.  It is next to impossible to just drop in.  If you do plan to visit Champagne contact the places you want to visit well in advance and if at all possible try to do so before or after the month of August.  In the month of August many Europeans are on vacation and many businesses are on "skeleton" staff.  Lastly, many of the prestige houses require that you get referred or are high up in the industry to even entertain the thought of a visit.  Since I learned this as I was planning some of the places I would have like to have gone were not possible because they just didn't get back to me or I wasn't placed "well" enough in the industry.  Irrespective, I had a great time and I highly recommend a trip to Champagne.  I hope to return very soon    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Snooth Blog – European... by HondaJohn

  
  
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  July 2008

  Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Brut NV

  Snoothrank:

  No written review

  Wine review by jkobrzycki

  
  

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