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Rare 2008

Piper-Heidsieck, Champagne, France

Piper-Heidsieck
Champagne France
  • 99
    Points
  • The 269 best
    of 3 290 954
    wines globally
  • 25 Pros of
    26 recommend
    this wine
260 99
  • Taste
  • Moment
  • BEST CHAMPAGNE OF THE WORLD
    Best Wine of the World2021 competition
  • BEST CHAMPAGNE OF THE 2022
    Champagne Magazine

  • Country ranking ?

    228

  • Producer ranking ?

    1

  • Decanting time

    15min

  • When to drink

    now to 2035

  • Food Pairing

    shellfish carpaccio, sashimis & grilled sea bass

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.

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Essi Avellan MW EssiAvellan.com | 96→99/100

“Exquisitely elegant, , radiantly fruity and mineral, but still holding back plenty. It is almost like a time bomb having so much fruit and vitality to it that it feels near immortal. Beautifully detailed nose with fresh fruity profile with pineapple, lemon, sweet vanilla and roasted coffee beans meeting liquorice and smoky almonds. The fruitiness is pure, ripe yet crunchy. On the pa...

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The Story

The noble origin of Rare Champagne dates back to a tribute to Marie-Antoinette and expresses its revolutionary spirit fight against the trivialisation of vintages.

Over the last forty years, Rare Champagne has only declared eleven vintages, the most demanding in Champagne, all in limited production.

“Since 1976, the House has only released 8 vintages of Rare: 1976, 1979,1985, 1988, 1990, 1998 en Magnum, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2008 and now 201...

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Wine Information

Time calms the nervous Chardonnay from the Montagne de Reims region, and balances the Pinot Noir grapes.

Rare Champagne is fully recognizable by its notes of tropical fresh fruits and smooth spices, (sometimes crystallized), its smoky accents (expressing the minerality of Chardonnay on limestone) and its oriental and voluptuous harmonies.

Each Rare Millésime is born from the struggle with nature. For instance, Rare Millésime 1976 was cre...

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Vintage 2008

2008 -The Champagne vintage set to make history!

A first taste of leading winemakers’ 2008 champagnes reveals a miraculous vintage, bubbling with potential, which – whisper it – might just prove the greatest in living memory.

2008 was not, by any standards, a vintage year for the financial world. And for the greater part of it, 2008 was a pretty poor year for Champagne too: spring was freezing, summer gloomy and overcast. But then, aroun...

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Tasting note

color

Medium and Green-Yellow

ending

Long, Extensive and Pure

flavors

Raspberry, Vanilla, Apricot, Toasty, Truffles and Citrus

nose

Intense, Opulent, Seductive and Round

recommend

Yes

taste

Perfectly balanced, Complex, Full-bodied, Focused, Rich, Fresh and Dry

Verdict

Transparent and Sophisticated

Written Notes

Pinot noir from Aÿ, Verzenay and Verzy. Chardonnay from Avize, Chouilly, Le Mesnil, Vaudemanges, Trèpail and Villers-Marmery. Beautiful crackling look with perfect mousse and golden shifts. Clean and elegant cool scent initially. Orange blossom, white lilac, lily of the valley, jasmine meet roasted coffee, vanilla and almonds. Nice attack with passion fruit, coconut and vanilla notes together with a fresh acidity and a languorous silky mid taste before the tough acids sets off on its own journey towards new goals.

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  • 93p

Pale lemon yellow. Apples, brioche, minerals, nuanced, detailed nose. Fresh acidity, apples, minerals, bright, detailed, nuanced, long, fairly linear even if richer. 95

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  • 95p

Tasted in November 2021.  Fresh, lively, citrus, lemongrass, refined, complex, and toasted palate. Long lemony finish. Very young in its appearance and needs several years to unfold its great potential. 

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  • 95p

A lively first nose of candied lemon, guava, also a hint of lime. With aeration, notes of almonds and almond flowers come to the fore. On the palate, there is a nervy tension that energises its fine, crystalline texture. This is an upright and elegant Champagne whose long, airy finish is mouthwatering. After some time in the glass, it evolves towards notes of smoke, flint and vanilla. A sumptuous Champagne.

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  • 97p

70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir from 11 crus (including Villers-Marmery, Vertus, Montgueux for Chardonnay and Aÿ, Verzy and Ambonnay for Pinot Noir). No oak. Full malo. Régis Camus left this blend on lees for 10 years and then aged it for a year after disgorgement in November 2019 with a dosage of 10 g/l. Interesting how difficult it is for this wine to shed its relationship with Piper-Heidsieck on search engines.


Brilliant pale coppery colour. Mmmm! So concentrated and heady with a huge array of aromas including, amazingly, coconut – but not in a tarty way. Masses of tense lime fruit aromas. Very dense nose. Lifted and refreshing and this seems much more youthful than12 years old. It does rather remind me of Dom Pérignon with its concentration and density but I don't suppose that comment will necessarily be welcome with the winemaker. It's just so electric in texture. Truly an exciting, luxurious champagne.

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  • 91p

Medium intense yellow colour. Rich and open nose is complex and charms with its lovely seductive toastiness, fresh mint and ginger aromas. Dry and crisp palate with extremely refined texture, smooth mousse, and vivid toasty lemony taste. Endlessely lingering finish. Astonishing champagne! JL 96+p (Oct 2021)

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  • 96p

The newly released 2008 Brut Cuvée Rare is very promising, unwinding in the glass with a youthfully reserved nose of citrus oil, crisp green apple, freshly baked bread, iodine and oyster shell, as well as some rather herbaceous characteristics that depress my score a little, even if I suspect that they will resolve with a bit more bottle age. Medium to full-bodied, incisive and tightly wound, if the 2006 vintage was gourmand and demonstrative, the 2008 is slower to show all its cards. Built around racy acids and complemented by a pillowy mousse, this rendition of Cuvée Rare will reward a few years more on cork.

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  • 93p
Good looking normal size bottle and has by the neck level. Colour is green-yellow and medium. On the nose it is intense, open, seductive, round and opulent. The taste is fragrant, focused, rich, full, fresh, and dry, full-bodied, with complex and perfectly balanced structure. On the palate it is layered and has toasty, citrus, tropical fruits, perfumed, dried-fruit, apricot, truffles, vanilla and raspberry flavours. The finish is long, lingering, pure, extensive and flavorful. This wine is sophisticated, transparent, outstanding and excellent. I paid around 100-200€ a bottle. Perfectly stored bottles are still very worthy and will last well for another 10-15 years and decant at least 30min before tasting. Good value for money. I do recommend.
- (Tasting note created by Tb's AI)
  • 98p
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Information

Origin

Reims, Champagne

Other wines from this producer

Brut Florens Louis

Brut Rosé

Cuvée Brut

Cuvée Florens-Louis

Cuvée Sublime

Essentiel Blanc de Blancs Brut

Essentiel Blanc de Blancs extra brut

Essentiel Cuvée Brut

Essentiel Cuvée Réservée Brut

Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top Brut

Hors-Série

Piper-Heidsieck Brut Sauvage

Rare Rose

Rosé Sauvage

Vintage

Inside Information

2008 Weather

A mild, rainy winter, followed by an unpredictable and dreary spring, with a month of June marked by an abrupt drop in temperature and continuing most of the summer until the 15 August. And then, a miracle of nature: the ominous and extremely rainy weather changed radically to become sunny and dry with warm days and cold nights, lasting throughout the harvest in mid-September.

 

Like his predecessors, Régis Camus the most awarded Cellar Master of the century*, succeeds in transforming Rare Champagne into a wine of patience with an unlimited potential for expression. Time is no longer an obstacle but a benefit which emphasizes the personality of each vintage.

Blossoming year after year, Rare Champagne expresses an elegant style: endless freshness, long-lasting minerality, with a radiant purity and subtle contrasts.

*Régis Camus, awarded 8 times "Champagne and Sparkling Winemaker of the Year" by the International Wine Challenge Jury since the beginning of the century.

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