Charles Heidsieck - Champagne CharlieNV
WHITE SPARKLING
- Producer Charles Heidsieck
-
Blend
52% Chardonnay
48% Pinot Noir - Country France
- Region Champagne
- UPC 667505000715
Reviews
James Suckling 97
What a stunning mature champagne! This marries complex toasty aromas with a vitality that makes it easy to enjoy. Enormous concentration and creaminess, but so clean and straight at the super-long, delicately spicy finish that extends out to the horizon. A cuvee of 20% 2016 vintage pinot noir from Ay, with 80% of mature reserve wines, of which a good third were over 10 years of age. Drink or hold.
by SP, James Suckling , 2023
Wine Advocate 96
When Cyril Brun was briefed to recreate this iconic cuvee, he struggled to achieve the plenitude and drama he was looking for. Then, he dug in the Heidsieck archives and discovered, as he tells it, that the famous vintages of Charlie, while vintaged on paper, actually contained reserve wines. Brun therefore gave himself carte blanche to draw on the house's best lots to put together the inaugural NV Champagne Charlie, based on the 2016 vintage but incorporating fully 78% reserve wines dating back two decades. Bursting with aromas of golden orchard fruit, brioche, honeycomb, peaches, spices and buttery pastry, it's full-bodied, fleshy and enveloping, with a layered core of fruit, racy acids and a beautifully refined pinpoint mousse. Some 52% of the blend is Chardonnay, with Brun looking for ripe, exotic Chardonnay to complement more tensile lots of Pinot Noir. It's a compelling, flamboyant wine—the only thing that may make consumers smart is the price.
by WK, Wine Advocate , 2022
Wine Enthusiast 100
The return with a new iteration of this iconic Champagne, first produced in the 1980s, and named after Charles Heidsieck one of the great Champagne promoters of the 19th century, is to be welcomed. The wine itself lives up to the billing of its history, rich in the house style and with just a hint of maturity. This great wine, still full of white fruits, has so many years ahead. The wine is likely to mature gently for a decade at least.
by RV, Wine Enthusiast , 2022
Wine Spectator 94
There's a lovely, featherlight quality to this elegant Champagne, which combines focus and expression with delicacy and finesse. Features flavors of Asian pear, blanched almond, cherry blossoms and ground ginger that ride the fine, silky mousse, with a subtle minerally streak driving the lasting, creamy finish. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
by AN, Wine Spectator , 2022
Technical Details
Estate
Charles Heidsieck is the smallest of the Grandes Marques Champagne Houses. Based in the Reims region of Champagne, it is one of the best-known producers for both vintage and non-vintage cuvée. In 1851, young Charles Heidsieck founded his own Champagne house in Reims. He understood that the United States was an important emerging market, so he traversed America repeatedly north to south promoting his new brand. The stylish entrepreneur became known lovingly as “Champagne Charlie.”Description
Champagne Charlie cuvee, relaunched on the occasion of Charles Heidsieck’s bicentennial. Charles Heidsieck transmitted an important legacy: the art of blending. While his competitors focused on meticulously selecting crus, vines and varietals, he concentrated on establishing agreements with the most gifted winegrowers in Champagne, picking out wines from a large range of villages. He could turn every cuvée to good effect, leaving each to age at its own pace, depending on its character, until full maturity. One bottle of Charles Heidsieck wine can contain up to almost 60 different crus, each differing in cellaring times but generally longer than the average time.In addition, our art of blending ensures that Charles Heidsieck wines boast good cellaring potential. The Champagne Charlie cuvée will be one of the most distinctive from an ageing point of view: a large part of the blend comes from réserve wines aged on lees for up to 25 Cellared in 2017. Close to 80% matured réserve wines and 20% wines from 2016. 48% Pinot Noir and 52% Chardonnay.