Adventures with Champagne Charlie
In 2012, Liberty Wines won the UK distribution deal for much respected but (at the time) beleaguered Champagne house Charles Heidsieck. Not to be confused, as it so often was, with Piper-Heidsieck, or Heidsieck Monopole (frequently the cheapest option on the supermarket shelves). I was duly dispatched off to Champagne to meet the new Chief Executive Officer - the excellent Mr. Stephen Leroux.
Some of the wonderful older vintages…
Having got the stupid o'clock Eurostar/TGV combination, I arrived in Reims in time for a freshen up (in the Hotel de la Paix of course) before lunch with Mr. Leroux. We hit it off pretty quickly - both being new in our roles and keen to give these wonderful wines a place on the Champagne stage, which they had more or less fallen off, especially in the UK. Following various meetings with various important people, we visited the spell-binding Charles Heidsieck cellars. Having done a series of visits to Champagne previously with the CIVC/Comité Champagne, I had visited a number of producers by this time, but I had never seen the Gallo-Roman chalk cellars underneath Reims. And they truly are magical. Dug out by the Romans to build Reims itself, they were then covered over and not rediscovered for hundreds of years - which is astonishing, as they are numerous and cover many kilometres underneath the city - it’s practically built on a honeycomb of chalk cellars. Initially they were used to grow mushrooms - the humidity and darkness being ideal, but then the emerging Champagne houses cottoned onto the fact that they were also ideal for housing and aging champagne. The combination of constant 10 degrees, high humidity and darkness was perfect for these wines to quietly sleep while they aged and matured. But more on that later.
Stairway to Charles Heidsieck heaven, the cellars cut from the bedrock of chalk.
That evening, I had dinner with Veronique and Catherine of the Charles Team in a smart restaurant in the centre of Reims. It was Valentine's Day. We were the only table of three at the very quiet restaurant - no other tables appeared to be having any conversation at all, while our fizz-fuelled laughter caused people to turn and stare. Reassuringly, the French hadn't totally nailed Valentine's Day either then.
The following morning was spent in the winery with the Chef de Caves Thierry Roset. A quiet genius of a winemaker, unassuming and un-rockstarry like some, Thierry was a gentle gentleman. In the next couple of years we would spend many occasions together following this - me translating his poetic French when in the UK at events, we became a pretty good double act.
I spent a few years as 'custodian' of the Charles brand at Liberty, travelling the UK and Ireland, showing it to wine shops and restaurants, taking journalists over to Reims, attending events we'd sponsored. It was a wonderful experience - not least because the wines themselves are simply some of the best in the world, which is easy to say without hesitation.
Very sadly, Thierry passed away suddenly in 2014. He is remembered as one of the greats - and I was very honoured to collect his award at The Champagne and Sparkling Wine Championships in 2018. I took it back to Reims where his son was learning the craft.
