The release of a new vintage of Charles Heidsieck’s famous Blanc des Millénaires is always a privileged moment, as this is such a special, rare cuvée. The latest is from the 2006 vintage, a year that was marked by frost and thunderstorms in the spring, followed by beneficial weather during the crucial flowering period of flowering.
Record-breaking heatwaves during July gave way to a rainy, cold August with sunshine and dry conditions prevailing by the start of September leading up to a harvest that began around 10 September in the Champagne regions where the grapes tend to ripen earlier.
Slow ripening made it possible to conserve acidity while also preserving the fruit for the future base wines. As a result of this growing season, the Champagnes from the 2006 vintage tend to be fruity but also lively and fresh in style, and certainly less powerful than those from 2005.
This is one of the reasons why Charles Heidsieck decided to release a 2006 vintage for the exceptional – and much sought-after – Blanc des Millénaires cuvée. According to Cyril Brun, the current cellar master, ‘the Blanc des Millénaires is an unchanging recipe, the idea being to capture the spirit of the Côte des Blancs sector from which the grapes are sourced but also achieve the quintessential expression of each specific terroir.’
Thus, the Blanc des Millénaires contains ‘20% of each of the best terroirs of the Côte des Blancs’, explained Brun.
- Cramant; characterised by eastern exposure but also a significant amount of flatter terrain than those of the more typical hillsides, produces precisely textured, limestone-driven Champagnes with a touch of salinity.
- Avize; higher in altitude, tends to produce Chardonnay of a more generous character, including some exotic fruit notes.
- Oger; the most atypical of the grand cru villages, presenting a bowl-like geological amphitheatre with a south/south-east orientation that fully embraces the sun whenever possible, making for a riper, fruitier and more immediately appealing style.
- Le Mesnil / Oger; has a terroir famous for producing long-lived Champagne with a lively character often described as having minerality, as well as a salty, iodine-like tang on the palate.
- Vertus; the sole premier cru, which produces Chardonnay destined for wines that have an appealing roundness to them.
This 2006 vintage will resonate strongly as the sixth opus of the cuvée that began with the 1983 vintage released in 1993. The vintages produced so far are: 1983, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2004 and now 2006.
‘The 2006 is probably the most open in its expression early on, in a style that is reminiscent of the 1995,’ said Brun. ‘It incarnates a real break with the 2004, which was extremely mineral, tense, smoky and roasted in character. This one is riper, so more generous and powerful, but also possessing a beguiling bouquet’, he continued.
At the same time, Charles Heidsieck also released its Brut 2012 which Brun concluded had ‘a more than challenging growing season, as we were assailed by all the plagues of Egypt, but in the end, thanks to a magnificent late season, it is a vintage that produced racy, generous wines’.
See the Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires 2006 tasting note and score
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