Behind the scenes of one of the most exclusive Champagnes: visit to Charles Heidsieck

We Belgians love the good life. And good life includes good champagne. It is therefore not surprising that we lead the global ranking for the volume of Champagne being consumed in our country. But it is also clear that there is Champagne and Champagne. The editors had the honour and pleasure of taking a look behind the scenes of one of the most prestigious Champagne houses: Charles Heidsieck.

When we arrive at the address of Charles Heidsieck, at 1 rue de la procession, it takes some searching. Their famous neighbours Ruinart and Vranken own large estates where the gates are wide open. Not so with Charles Heidsieck. Hidden behind a gate is the pride of this Champagne house. Vivons heureux, vivons cachés could be the slogan on the entrance gate here.

Modesty is not exactly the dogma of founder Charles Heidsieck. We are writing 1852, in the first year after the foundation of his Champagne house. Charles Heidsieck is a man of the world and immediately feels he must take his Champagne to the new world. There, in New York and London, Charles likes to move in the world’s fashionable circles. It is easy for ‘Champagne Charlie‘, the nickname that would become his, to sell his quality champagne. Word of mouth soon worked its way into the Anglo-Saxon beau monde and as court supplier to several European royal houses. It brought him the necessary liquidity but also a temporary prison sentence because Charly loved to circumvent the rules of Prohibition. It was the beginning of a beautiful family saga.

Today, the brand is at the absolute top of Champagnes and is served at the better gastronomic restaurants. We find out what makes Champagne so special when we are invited to visit the underground gallery. In these chalk layers under Reims (Unesco World Heritage) lies a veritable city of corridors and paths, where the Champagne can age in an ideal manner. Read: ideal humidity and no natural light. Only a handful of Champagne brands can make use of these chalk cliffs, which of course makes it super unique!

But the best was yet to come, of course. Climbing a steep staircase, we discover a beautiful degustation room. Fortunately, our hostess has the key to this Valhalla! Bottles of millésime from most years are kept here. Charles Heidsieck distinguishes itself by the fact that their champagnes age 5 years in the chalk cliffs, but here we see bottles of 20, 30, 40 years old. We fall backwards when we are asked to take a bottle of 1985 from the cellar. “You can taste it later on”…

Once above ground, we start with a magnificent tasting of the different Champagnes. We start with the Brut Reserve, which is pretty much the entry level of the range. But what an entry level! It has matured for five years in the cellars, a blend of three grapes (Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir) with at least 40% of reserve wines. This reserve wine comes from the best years and is aged between 5 and 15 years, giving a unique finesse and aromatic taste to the Champagne.

Our tasting will be a walk through the pallet of Champagnes that Charles Heidsieck offers. In it we will have delicious surprises such as the Rosé Reserve. Normally we are not such big fans of Rosé Champagnes, but this one is beautifully gastronomic. You can immediately serve delicious scallops with it or a delicious toast with Caviar! And last but not least, we enjoyed the Millésime from 1985 immensely. It is extremely surprising how much ‘fraicheur’ this Champagne still possesses while it has a very pronounced gastronomic taste. We gladly underwent that touchstone during the gastronomic lunch that was offered to us for a final tasting!