Piper-Heidsieck Hors-Serie Coteaux Champenois Blanc de Noirs Ay 2022

Champagne Piper-Heidsieck began with Florens-Louis Heidsieck, who created the original company of Heidsieck & Co in 1785. Originally his idea was to “create a cuvée worthy of a queen” and once Marie Antoinette had tasted his creation his dream was realised, as she became the first Heidsieck & Co ambassador. In 1815, Florens-Louis’ nephew, Christian Heidsieck joined the company alongside Henri-Guillaume Piper and upon Florens-Louis’ death in 1828, the duo decided to continue the adventure side by side, forming Champagne Piper-Heidsieck.

The House went from strength to strength during the 1800s, according the privilege of royal warrant holder from no less than fourteen royal and imperial courts, some as far afield as China. A milestone was reached in 1885 and to celebrate Piper-Heidsieck’s centennial, Pierre Karl Fabergé - star jeweller of Russian Tsar Alexander III - designed a bottle adorned with gold, diamonds and lapis lazuli. This marked the beginning of a partnership between the House and the world’s greatest jewellers and the ornate design is still seen on bottles of Piper-Heidsieck’s prestige cuvée Rare today.

This success continued throughout the 20th Century, which saw Piper-Heidsieck become Hollywood’s champagne of choice. Indeed, the legendary Marilyn Monroe famously declared in 1953: “I go to bed with a few drops of Chanel No. 5 and I wake up each morning to a glass of Piper-Heidsieck; it warms me up.”

Today, the winemaking team is led by Cellar Master Régis Camus, who has been with the House since 1994. The signature of Piper-Heidsieck champagne has always been their preference for Pinot Noir, accounting for the balanced, structured and powerful style for which their blends are famed. Their prestige cuvée, Rare, was first produced in 1976 when an unprecedented heat wave struck the region. Following the philosophy that an extraordinary event should produce an extraordinary cuvée, Rare vintages are only declared in years “where Nature unleashes its forces”.

Always striving for innovation and progression, Piper-Heidsieck opened their impressive modern winery with over 200 stainless steel wine vats in 1995 and their newly designed contemporary headquarters were revealed in 2008.

Chef de Cave History at Champagne Piper-Heidsieck:

Cellar Master: Émilien Boutillat
Winery Location: Reims | Champagne, France
Champagne Region: Montagne de Reims
Annual Production (bottles): 8,000,000

Chef de Cave History at Champagne Piper-Heidsieck:

Émilien Boutillat - October 2018 - Current
Emilien studied at the School of Agronomy in Montpellier, focusing on both viticulture and enology. Early in his career he worked in quite a variety of winegrowing regions beyond Champagne: for example in the Rhône, Bordeaux and abroad in New Zealand, California, Chile, South Africa. He first worked for several harvests at houses like Cattier and Armand de Brignac before joining Piper‑Heidsieck in October 2018 as the chef de cave for the House. At the time of his appointment with Piper-Heidsieck in 2018 he was “the youngest chef de caves” at a large Maison in Champagne.

Regis Camus - 2002 to 2022
Regis studied in 1974 and 1975 at the Faculté d’Oenologie in Reims. After obtaining his Oenological Diploma - his first winemaking experience was in 1976 as an intern under Tutor Jacques Peters, who also helped Regis find his first job in champagne. Camus joined Piper-Heidsieck in the 1990s as assistant to Daniel Thibault, after Daniel died in 2002 Regis was promoted to manage all the winemaking team for all three brands; Piper, Rare and Charles. From 2013 Regis focussed his time on Champagne Piper-Heidsieck and Rare and since 2018 has been solely responsible for the prestige cuvée Rare and handing over to his sucessor Emilien. His meticulous winemaking has made him Sparkling Winemaker of the Year at the IWC eight times and in 2019 the CSWWC rewarded him of a Life Achievement award. Regis retired in March 2022.

Daniel Thibault - 1990-2002
Daniel came to Charles Heidseick when Joseph Henriot of Champagne Henriot purchased it in 1976. He was chef de cave at Henriot until Joseph brought him across to Charles Heidsieck shortly after buying the Maison. In 1985 Charles-Heidsieck was acquired by Rémy Cointreau from Joseph Henriot and in 1988 Rémy Cointreau also acquired Piper-Heidsieck. When Claude Demiere retired as cellar master of Piper-Heidsieck in 1990 Daniel Thibault took over managing winemaking at both Charles & Piper and at this time he hired Regis Camus as his assistant. Daniel passed away from cancer in 2002.

Claude Demiere - 1970-1990
He spent most of his career in the Piper-Heidsieck cellars, first as a worker in the 1960’s progressing through foreman and appointed chef de cave in 1970 continuing until his retirement in 1990. During his time Claude saw ownership change to Rémy Cointreau in 1985 and during the last five years of his time as cellar master he was required not to make many vintages of Champagne Rare as during this time the parent company also owned Champagne Krug. In 1990 Claude made this year and then no Rare was made until a small amount of 1997 was made, but not declared and it wasn't until 1998 that a full vintage was again made.