Producer: Piper-Heidsieck
Wine: Brut Champagne Cuvée
Vintage: Non-Vintage
Country: France
Appellation: Champagne
Wine Type: White
Varietal: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier
Grade: A-
Designation: Must Drink
Price: $26-35

Piper-Heidsieck has pushed itself as a Champagne brand and a lifestyle choice. They have spent big money to create a worldwide brand with a sparkling jetset image that elevates its imbibers above the hoi polloi. On a tour of their cellars in Rheims, France, one hops aboard an amusement ride car and scoots through a slick programmed tour that is a cross between Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World,” and an old-fashioned campy Haunted House. On the tour one doesn’t learn much about making Champagne but you find out how important Piper-Heidsieck has been to Hollywood, car racing, fashion, and general conspicuous consumption living. So, from all appearances this historic Champagne Cellars seems to push image rather than substance. So, does their bubbly live up to their image? Well, I brought a couple of bottles of their Cuvée along to a New Year’s Eve dinner, in this case traditional Japanese Osechi-ryori dinner with traditional foods that are associated with good health, prosperity, fertility, luck, happiness, long-life, and other good things. Normally, osechi is accompanied by sweet sake. But the great thing about Champagne is that it goes with almost everything and as far as I’m concerned, I’ll take a flute of bubbles over sake anytime. Apparently everyone at the table agreed with me and ignored tradition, opting for the Piper-Heidsieck. The non-vintage Brut is a gorgeous pale straw yellow with tight rivulets of tiny bubbles. It is soft and creamy but still delightfully dry. Wonderful flavors of honey and strawberries, floral and vanilla notes, and a vibrant biscuity finish. Effervescent and lovely. I no longer feel like a member of the hoi polloi and I didn’t even have to fly to Cannes.

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