Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires Vertical Tasting: Every Vintage Since 1983
Residence Eisenhower, Reims
Presented by Emilien Erard (Cellar Master) and Stephen Leroux (CEO)
9th June 2026
Few prestige cuvées have remained as faithful to their original vision as Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires. Created by legendary cellar master Daniel Thibault from the 1983 vintage, Blanc des Millénaires has become one of Champagne’s benchmark expressions of prestige Côte des Blancs Chardonnay.
Daniel Thibault
Since that first release there have been six cellar masters, with Emilien Erard becoming the latest custodian of the wine in July 2025. We will have to wait several years before seeing his first Blanc des Millénaires, but his passion for the wine was immediately evident throughout the tasting.
New cellar Master Emilien Erard
Historically the blend has been built from five Grand Cru villages of the Côte des Blancs, with roughly equal proportions contributing distinct characteristics:
Cramant – tension and length
Avize – purity and chalkiness
Oger – elegance, richness and white floral notes
Le Mesnil-sur-Oger – structure and depth
Vertus – salinity, intensity and tropical freshness
Map of the Champagne Region
The major change came with the 2017 vintage, when Chouilly was introduced following severe spring frost losses in Cramant. Chouilly brings – generosity and fruitiness.
The wine is vinified entirely in stainless steel, aged on fine lees until bottling in the June following harvest, and then spends typically 8–10 years resting in Charles Heidsieck’s famous Crayeres (chalk cellars) before disgorgement. Since the inaugural 1983 vintage, remarkably little has changed in either sourcing or winemaking philosophy, preserving the identity of Blanc des Millénaires across four decades. The 2006 release marked another milestone as the first Blanc des Millénaires to be disgorged with the addition of jetting.
Crayeres (chalk cellars)
The most significant changes have perhaps occurred in the vineyards. Today the Charles Heidsieck, Piper-Heidsieck and Rare Champagne group farms around 80 hectares of owned or long-leased vineyards, representing approximately 15% of its grape requirements. These vineyards are farmed sustainably, without herbicides or pesticides, while growers are rewarded for adopting sustainable and organic practices. It is an approach that reflects the increasing importance of environmental stewardship throughout Champagne and helps ensure the long-term health of the terroirs that underpin wines such as Blanc des Millénaires.
One fascinating statistic shared during the tasting was Daniel Thibault’s conviction that 1995 would be “the vintage of the century”. He consequently produced almost 500,000 bottles, compared with the more typical production of around 150,000 bottles, explaining why 1995 remained the current release for over seven years.
Blanc des Millénaires 1983
Disgorged: Sept 2021 – Dosage: 8 g/l – pH 3.02
Harvest: Hot summer, abundant crop above 13,000 kg/ha
Tasting Note: Deep golden in colour with remarkable vitality for a wine now over forty years old. Aromas of dried peach, apricot and patisserie lead into a palate that combines mature richness with surprising freshness. The texture is soft and creamy, while a saline backbone keeps everything focused through the finish. Fully mature and probably past its absolute peak, yet still delivering enormous pleasure and a fascinating glimpse into the origins of Blanc des Millénaires.
Maturity: Drink up over next 5 years
Score: 17.5/20
First releases of Blanc de Millenaires
Blanc des Millénaires 1985
Disgorged: Sept 2021 Dosage 8 g/l pH 3.05 TA: 8.3 g/L
Harvest: Severe black frost reduced yields significantly to 6,800 kg/ha
Tasting Note: Golden with faint green reflections. The nose offers dried stone fruits, peach compote, toasted cashews and roasted almonds. There is a generosity to the fruit profile that immediately distinguishes it from the 1983. The palate shows concentration and richness rather than saline precision, with honey, white truffle and toasted nuts layered over ripe orchard fruits. Velvety in texture with excellent length. Fully mature but showing beautifully.
Maturity: Drink over next 10 years
Score: 18/20
Blanc des Millénaires 1990
Disgorged: Sept 2021 – Dosage: 8 g/l – High Acidity Year
Harvest: Very hot summer, highest yield since 1983, Harvest began 17th Sept 11,900 kg/ha boosted by late summer rain
Tasting Note: A more golden hue and noticeably energetic mousse. Initially slightly reductive before opening into peaches, apricots, vanilla and fresh-cut grass. The palate is broad and expressive with yellow fruits, toasted pineapple and creamy texture. Nutty cashew notes emerge with air, supported by just enough acidity to balance the richness. Salinity provides lift on the finish. A Very good 1990 at or close to peak maturity and drinking exceptionally well.
Maturity: Drink over next 10+ years
Score: 18++/20
Blanc des Millénaires 1995
Disgorgement: 2016 – Dosage: 9 g/l – TA: 9 g/L 3.01 pH – 500K bottles!
Harvest: Hot summer, some rain, 21st Sept picking started highest yield since 1983 11,000 kg/ha boosted by late summer rain
Tasting Note: The famous vintage that Daniel Thibault believed would become the “vintage of the century.” Rich golden colour. The nose remains astonishingly youthful, offering dried peach, yellow plum and ripe citrus. On the palate, charred pineapple, lemon richness and chalky minerality combine seamlessly. Remarkably, this bottle was disgorged before the introduction of jetting and sealed entirely under natural cork. Despite being the oldest disgorgement in the tasting, it remains one of the freshest wines present. On market til 2016! Remarkable statistics for a hot year, low pH bright acidity, is part of this wines genius! This was my big surprise today, just how slowly this champagne has journeyed!
Maturity: Beautiful now, harmonious, complete and still years away from decline.
Score: 19.5+/20
Blanc des Millénaires 1996
Disgorged: Sept 2021 – Dosage: 9 g/l – PH 2.90 – TA: 10.1 g/L
The rare balance of 10.6 alcohol potential and 10.1 acidity
3000 cases produced, most sold by Remy Cointreau pre 2011 & 600 cases left for 2025 Release
Harvest: Hot start to Summer then cooler & humid Yield: 10,400 kgs
Tasting Note: Interestingly, despite the legendary reputation of the 1996 vintage, this bottle showed more evolved than the 1995. Plenty of fruit, dried apricot, lemon, grapefruit, peaches and some creaminess before the hit of acidity. This is a tough one as the champagne hasn’t reached a harmony; some people will like the acidity freshness and will seem less dramatic with food.
Maturity: Fully mature, enjoy next five years
Score: 17.5/20
| Interesting Fact: Between the releases of 1995 and 2004 there were some great vintages made, yet no BdM, these years like 1998 and 2002 all went into reserve wines for the NV Brut |
Blanc des Millénaires 2004
Disgorged: Oct 2017 – Dosage 9 g/l – TA: 7.3 g/L and 9.7 potential alc
Harvest: Followed the small yielding 2003, cold winter and large crop set. Summer was bright and dry with no significant disease pressure. Picking started 25th Sept Yield: 14,000 kgs (officially)
Tasting Note: Each time I have tasted in the last few years I am surprised by its energy and youthful character. Vibrant citrus and just starting to go that apple pastry charm, with charred notes of tropical fruit like papaya. I think this will age as well as the 1995 has done. The palate is showing more of the tropical with banana, bitter orange and charred pineapple, while retaining a chalky core. Good length and nothing aromatically that shouldn’t be here which is encouraging for the long term.
Maturity: Building slowly to maturity, enjoy for 20 years.
Score: 19/20
Blanc des Millénaires 2006
Disgorged: March 2019 Dosage: 7 g/l Potential Alc: 10.2 and TA: 7 g/L
Harvest: A cold start that led to a hot and dry summer, with high potential alcohol hinting art the more tropical flavours in the grapes; Big volume year. Yield: 16,500 kgs
Tasting Note: The aromatics are that mix of big ripe citrus and tropical fruit with underlying streak of chalkiness. The palate fills out with ripe yellow fruits, pineapple, grapefruit, papaya and plenty of creaminess and those hints of patisserie. Such opulence of fruit. Love the texture, very soft and creamy and hint of bitter on the finish. This is showing better than I expected with good freshness. Loads of brioche, roasted cashews and then with a few minutes coffee mocha notes. One of the lowest dosage.
Maturity: Perhaps at that initial peak of exuberance shifting to more mature charm; enjoy for 10 years.
Score: 18/20
A Big Surprise!
After the tasting we walked down the 30 meters of stairs into the tranquil world of CH Crayeres and were presented with a chance to drink BdM 2006 #JeroboamEffect and before this no one knew anything other than 75cl existed!
Blanc des Millénaires 2006 Jeroboam
Blanc des Millénaires 2006 Jeroboam
Tasting Note: Served in the Crayeres: A distinctive gunflint aromatic, oozes class and power! There is no doubt the large format has overridden the exuberance of the heat in the 2006 vintage. That rather ripe and lush fruit we saw in the bottle has been tamed and elevated. The citrus rich nose explodes on the palate, all youthful indicators, lemon peel, burnt lemon, grapefruit, hints of marmalade leading into the texture, super soft and chalk fluffy that wraps like silk around your tongue. Some hints of charred pineapple come through with time and layer on layer on dried citrus and even hints of orange peel. This is astonishingly youthful and a few hundred are going to be for sale in autumn 2026! Watch out for them I have them on order! This will be amazing with at least 5 years post disgorgement time.
Maturity: Very youthful, drink from 2030 for 20+ years.
Score: 19+/20
Blanc des Millénaires 2007
Disgorged: Feb 2023 – Dosage:7 g/l Potential Alcohol: 9.5 and TA: 8.5 100K bottles
Harvest: Mild Winter, good flower set end of May & summer mild and wet Yield: 15,500 kgs
Tasting Note: The most tight on aromatics, with weight of fruit on the palate, the full citrus richness and development of some patisserie with a good interplay of tension and freshness. This is showing rather well. There is peeled almonds and salinity really lingers. Some ashes character on the finish.
Maturity: Perhaps at that initial peak of exuberance shifting to more mature charm; enjoy for 10 years.
Score: 17/20
| Interesting Fact: Stephen mentions when the EPI Group bought the business from Remy Cointreau in 2011 it was Christopher Descours funding that allowed new growth and the business focussed on two wines; CH Brut Reserve NV and BdM which helped the brand get back on the global map after massive volume losses under Remy Cointreau. |
Disgorged: July 2023 Dosage: 9 g/l Potential alc: 10% TA: 7.9 g/L
Tasting Note: Lightly reductive, mixed with rich lemon, grapefruit and pineapple hints, on the palate you really see the lemon richness that is going slightly creamy with a core of underlying freshness. Showing well. Second sip and you notice it has plenty of rich lemon, marmalade and custard hints and acidity and salinity that lifts up on the finish. Good concentration here and a textural delight. I wonder if this is going to be the next 1995 along with 2004 these are my strongest picks. Just 4000 c/s produced
Harvest: A consistently dry and sunny year with good maturity of clean grapes: Yield: 14,000 kgs/ha
Maturity: Very much in the energetic youngster stage, drink now for 20 years, will really reward with time
Score: 18.5+/20
Charles Heidsieck Winery
Blanc des Millénaires 2017
Disgorged: June 2025 – Dosage: 9 g/l TA: 9 g/L Potential Alc: 10%
Harvest: A dry winter followed by a mostly wet and damp spring and summer and cool harvest Yield: 11,000 kgs/ha FYI: Cramant is more steep slopes vs Chouilly giving more sunlight to most Chouilly plots and Cramant is hence more tense where as Chouilly more texturally round.
Tasting Note: The 10th BdM and 1st to include Chouilly as Cramant was hit by spring frost after budburst. 8% Chouilly, 32% Le Mesnil-sur-Oger & 20% each of Avize, Oger & Vertus
Lightly reductive, touch of Turkish delight, lychee, grapefruit and rich lemon. This is showing well and has a zippy freshness and lightness of touch, with the chalky origins coming through on the finish.
Maturity: Early Stage, should drink well for 15 years
Score: 18/20
| Interesting Fact: This was Emilien’s first job when he joined to bottle for tirage. |
Lets Talk Chalk
One of the more fascinating discussions during the tasting centred on the nature of Champagne’s chalk. Whilst often presented as the defining feature of the region’s terroir, the reality is more nuanced. The Côte des Blancs sits on Campanian chalk, formed around 80 million years ago from the calcium-rich remains of microscopic marine organisms when much of northern France lay beneath a warm shallow sea.
Yet chalk alone does not tell the whole story. Across the Côte des Blancs, the depth of topsoil, clay content, organic matter and chalk density vary significantly from village to village and even parcel to parcel. In some sites the chalk lies only a few centimetres below the surface; elsewhere, deeper topsoil can contribute to a broader, more generous style. This helps explain the different personalities that Cramant, Avize, Oger, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Vertus and now Chouilly each bring to Blanc des Millénaires.
The value of chalk lies not only in its composition but in its function: it drains freely while also acting as a natural reservoir, storing winter rainfall and releasing it gradually during the growing season. By contrast, the chalk beneath the historic crayères of Reims is much denser and more structurally cohesive, allowing these vast 30-metre-high underground chambers to exist. These subterranean cathedrals provide the naturally stable temperature and humidity that make them ideal for the long lees ageing central to Blanc des Millénaires.
Looking rather pleased with myself
Final Thoughts:
Tasting every vintage of Blanc des Millénaires produced since 1983 was a rare opportunity to explore not only the evolution of a prestige cuvée, but also the consistency of a vision that has remained remarkably unchanged for more than four decades.
What impressed me most was the extraordinary ageing capacity of these wines. Even the oldest vintages retained freshness, salinity and energy that would be remarkable in any white wine, let alone one that had spent decades evolving in bottle. The tasting also reinforced that longevity is about far more than acidity alone. Whilst the analytical numbers of 1996 remain extraordinary, it was the 1995 that demonstrated the harmony, balance and effortless maturity that define truly great Champagne.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was just how youthful many of the wines remain. The 2004 appears to have decades ahead of it, whilst the 2014 has all the ingredients to become one of the standout vintages in the history of Blanc des Millénaires. The 2006 Jeroboam was a reminder of the profound influence of large formats, transforming a wine already showing maturity in bottle into something almost youthful and architectural in scale.
If there is one lesson from this vertical, it is that Blanc des Millénaires rewards patience. These wines evolve at their own pace, often far slower than expected, gradually exchanging youthful citrus and chalk for layers of pastry, dried fruits, honey, nuts and spice, whilst somehow retaining their Côte des Blancs identity.
Forty years after Daniel Thibault created the first Blanc des Millénaires, it remains one of Champagne’s most compelling expressions of mature Chardonnay and a benchmark for anyone seeking to understand the extraordinary ageing potential of the Côte des Blancs.
Nick’s Score Summary
Vintage Score
| Blanc des Millénaires 1983 | 17.5 |
| Blanc des Millénaires 1985 | 18.0 |
| Blanc des Millénaires 1990 | 18++ |
| Blanc des Millénaires 1995 | 19.5+ |
| Blanc des Millénaires 1996 | 17.5 |
| Blanc des Millénaires 2004 | 19.0 |
| Blanc des Millénaires 2006 | 18.0 |
| Blanc des Millénaires 2006 Jeroboam | 19.5 |
| Blanc des Millénaires 2007 | 17.0 |
| Blanc des Millénaires 2014 | 18.5+ |
| Blanc des Millénaires 2017 | 18.0 |
The distinct shape of the Charles Heidsieck bottleis directly inspired by the junction between the Crayeres.
Quick Take Aways
Champion: 1995
Most surprising: 2006 Jeroboam
Best future prospect: 2014
Most intellectually interesting: 1996
Best value future buy: 2004
