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Champagne Charlie by Michael Edwards, 08/05
breaking the mould As all blends are assembled in the spring following the harvest, it was thus possible for champagne buffs to know the exact age of the base wine which makes up at the very least 60 per cent of the cuvée. The first three Mis en Cave releases were 1992 (based on 1991), 1993 (1992 -based) and 1994 (1993-based). These gave the connoisseur a fascinating glimpse of the Brut Réserve at different stages of ageing, from the primary fruit flavours of youth to the autolytic (yeast-influenced) complexities of maturity. This greater openness about the make-up and age of his wines was typical of Daniel. Lauded as a great technician, even a magician, he would shrug his shoulders, smile wryly and say "Chefs de Caves are not sorcerers. It all comes back to the quality of the raw material, the wines in the blend." He was a very accomplished technician, of course, but so are several other champagne cellar masters. What set him apart from the crowd was that he could see beyond the readings of volatile acidity and pH to the heart and soul of the champagne, doing all in his power to pervade it with the character, distinction and individuality of a great white wine, sometimes almost Burgundian in its opulence yet always checked by an elegance that was truly Champenois. This is perhaps best seen in his great all-Chardonnay Vintage Blanc des Millénaires. Particularly fine in 1983 and 1990, this is an outstanding champagne that has won over many of those who found Blanc de Blancs too austere. Daniel was also very careful in releasing vintage champagne only when the harvest really merited it. An entirely apt tribute to his memory is that the succulent 1989 Charles Heidsieck was judged International Wine and Spirits Challenge Trophy Champagne of the year in 2004, 15 years after it birth, and an ideal time to drink the greatest bottles. the king is dead... long live the king
Like Daniel, Régis has always had a real feeling for growers and the land; he also shares his late master's vision of opulence and elegance in the Charles cuvées. But Régis is his own man, showing an attractive directness in how he sees his role at Charles & Piper Heidsieck. "It seems to me that I belong to the multi-specialist cellar master genus whose members concentrate not only on pure oenology but also on the entire process of winemaking. We have the same kind of reasoning: absolutely everything counts. Style and quality are the result of many subjective decisions taken throughout the process as a whole, from harvesting right through to shipping. Therefore one must be multi-talented, know what one wants and accept no compromise whatsoever as far as quality is concerned." Régis attaches great importance to what happens before the harvest, to his relationship with the vineyard. In this, he is very much at one with the new breed of omni-competent cellarmasters -men like Dominique Dermarville, the young reforming Chef de Caves at Mumm - who are as much overseers of the quality of grapes on the vine as they are blenders of wines in the tasting room. In the case of Charles Heidsieck which has quite small vineyard holdings relative to its needs, Régis has to rely on as strong a network of grape-growers as he can muster to supply him with top-class grapes. In the 21st century, this is a mounting challenge for any Chef de Caves of a prominent Champagne house. It's a nail-biting scenario, as more and more growers are either having their grapes made into still wines (vins clairs) before offering them to the houses at a higher price, or they are making their own grower-champagnes for direct sale to the consumer.
the wines today My own acquaintance with Charles Heidsieck goes back to the early '90s. So is Thibault's legacy secure? How do the champagnes taste in 2005? With complete candour one can say that the wines in the glass are as hedonistic, rich, ample yet elegant as they always were. However, it seems clear that the winemaking team has had to duck and weave, ceding tactical concessions to the Remy marketing men in terms of presentation. The big change is that the 'Mis en Cave' neck label, citing the date of bottling, has gone, this information now tucked away in small print on the back label. The official line is that parading the date of bottling prominently on the front leads the consumer to confuse this blended cuvée with vintage champagne. This is a little disingenuous, particularly when you learn that the majority of 'Mis en Cave' was earmarked for restaurants, where the modern breed of sommelier had no difficulty in explaining this simple concept to customers. Have the marketing men, with their incurable instinct for a strong brand message, under-estimated the concentration span of the restaurant goer? Be that as it may, a tasting of the current Charles range in Reims this January was most impressive.
Charles Heidsieck Rosé 1996 This wine has a subtlety of evolved colours, scents and flavours. Even the red wine (10 per cent of the blend) that shapes the pastel rose hue tinted with orange comes from the same great '96 vintage; the aromas suggest peonies, cinnamon, white pepper and gingerbread; the palate is an exquisite sensation of wild raspberries softened by the passage of nine years on the cork. All these creations taste as much like fine wines as sparkling champagnes. I am sure that Daniel would have approved. This article appeared first in Fine Expressions magazine.
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