The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.
Wine Description
The Story
THE CHARLES’ WINE represents a world of elegance and indulgence. It is beautifully balanced and captivatingly complex. The quality demands meticulous attention. A fine-tuned dose of unconventional decisions at each step of the champagne production process.
Each wine has its own personality, its own generous tone. The fresh elegance of Chardonnay. The structure of Pinot Noir. The generosity of Meunier. Blending wines of the year with reserve wines is specific to Champagne; the perfect alliance demands exceptional expertise.
Amongst the House treasures, pride of place for the wine-making team lies in an incredible number of wines that have patiently been put aside for reserve. Selected and set aside for their aromatic potential, these wines are destined to play a role in the blending of a Charles Heidsieck champagne. A Brut Réserve cuvée contains a large proportion of reserve wines (40%), representing an average of 10 years of ageing. A blend pledging an unparalleled texture, a signature of the Charles style.
Time represents a 4th varietal for the Charles Heidsieck House.
Vintage 1981
Champagne: Challenging weather conditions left a small harvest and kept the producers in suspense up until the final moments. The final result was a good but very scarce vintage.
The mild spring woke up the vines from their winter sleep early, and vegetal growth began early in the spring. Unfortunately, heavy night frosts came in April and damaged the young sprouts. The situation only got worse when in May hailstorms damaged the vineyards. After this, the weather stayed cold, and the vines did not flower until July. In general, Chardonnay succeeded better than the red varieties in the flowering phase. August and September brought belief back to the producers, when the weather turned hot and sunny. Grapes matured in record speed, and it was possible to do the harvest right before the late September rains. As a result of previous lean harvest years, producers confirmed the sufficiency of non-vintage blends, and a large part of this vintage’s wines ended up as blend wines.
Thankfully, some of the producers also produced vintage champagnes. The have generally proven to be balanced and even excellent. The wines still have posture, elegance and concentration, even though the wines do not improve further in the cellar. The best experiences this year have been produced by Krug, whose blend exceptionally is half Chardonnay. For friends of Pinot Noir, the best win
