Heidsieck & Co

Heidsieck & Co "Monopole" is a champagne house located in the Champagne region of France.

Heidsieck & Co
Wine regionReims
AppellationChampagne (wine region)
Known forCuvée Brut (non-vintage)
Rare Vintage
VarietalsPinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier
Websitehttp://www.heidsieckandco-monopole.com

History

It was founded in 1785 by Florens-Louis Heidsieck. Following the death of the founder in 1828, the successors were his relatives Henri-Louis Walbaum, Frédéric-Auguste Delius and Christian Heidsieck.

In 1838 after several disagreements, the three nephews decide to part ways. Henri Louis Walbaum (1813-1883) continued the business alone, joining forces with his brother-in-law Auguste Heidsieck (1796-1870). The company name therefore changes to "Walbaum Heidsieck & Co."[1]

In 1860 Henri Louis Walbaum and Auguste Heidsieck establish the trademark “Monopole”. Following the death of Auguste Heidsieck, in 1870 the company Veuve Heidsieck et Co., heirs to Heidsieck & Co, is operating under the leadership of his widow for a few years. Her successor is Florens Walbaum, who becomes the First Chairman of the Syndicat du Commerce des Vins de Champagne from 1882 until his death in 1893.[1]

1901 advertisement for Heidsieck & Co. Monopole by Alfons Mucha.

The company name changes again to “Heidsieck & Co.” in 1882 . Following several other name changes, in 1889, The company becomes “Walbaum, Luling, Goulden & Co, successeurs d’Heidsieck & CO” in 1889 after several other name changes. It received an imperial warrant of appointment to the Russian court. In 1907 the company name becomes “Walbaum Goulden & Co, successeurs d’Heidsieck & Co, Maison fondée en 1785″. The company received an imperial and royal warrant of appointment for the Austro-Hungarian court.

In 1923 Édouard Mignot, founder of the grocery store chain “Les Comptoirs Français” acquires the company, which then becomes "Champagne Heidsieck & Co Monopole SA".

1956 After the Second World War, in 1956 the Champagne Academy in London is founded with "Heidsieck & Co Monopole" as one of the founding members.

In 1998, the Hiedsieck cuvée called Diamant bleu vintage 1907 was found in the shipwreck of the Swedish freighter Jönköping in the Gulf of Finland, the ship was chartered to deliver spirits, via neutral Sweden, to the Imperial Court of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. The ship was torpedoed in 1916 by a German submarine during World War I and a majority of the bottles survived in the frigid waters.[2] About 2000 bottles were salvaged from the ship and have been sold at auctions all over the world as a historic novelty.

In July 2010, a group of Swedish divers found 168 bottles from the 1830s aboard a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea off the coast of the Åland Islands.[3][4][5] The bottles were initially claimed to have been produced between 1782 and 1788. They were sent for analysis to France where they were traced to a now-defunct champagne house Juglar. In November 2010 it was reported that the wreck included Veuve Clicquot bottles as well.[6][7] Veuve Clicquot stated that experts checking branding of the corks "were able to identify with absolute certainty" that three of the bottles were theirs. The other bottles examined were attributed to Juglar.[7]

In January 2011 further info about the Åland bottles was released. 95 of them were identified as Juglar, 46 as Veuve Clicquot and at least four as Heidsieck.[8]

On November 17 the provincial government of the Åland Islands announced that most of the bottles were to be auctioned off. Two bottles of the Juglar were sold in the first auction, one going for 24,000 euros. Six bottles of the Juglar were sold at a second auction in 2012, along with four of the Veuve Clicquot and one of the Heidsieck. The profit from the auctions is being used for the improvement of water quality in the Baltic Sea and for research in marine archaeology and naval history.[9]

Today, Heidsieck is owned by the Vranken-Pommery Monopole Group (located in Reims), which also owns Pommery, Vranken, Château la Gordonne, Domaine Royal de Jarras, and Rozès. The champagne has a lot of pinot noir in the standard cuvée which makes it a little bit heavier in its style.

Champagnes
Bottle and glass of Heidsieck & Co. Monopole "Blue Top" Champagne.
  • Blue Top (non-vintage) – The primary House champagne. (Composition: 70% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Meunier.)
  • Blue Top Premiers Crus (non-vintage). (Composition: 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay.)
  • Extra Dry (non-vintage) (Composition: 70% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Meunier.)
  • Gold Top Millesime 2000. (Composition: 35% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Meunier.)

See also

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-02-04. Retrieved 2016-01-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. R. Phillips A Short History of Wine pg 297 Harper Collins 2000 ISBN 0-06-621282-0
  3. The World's oldest champagne - Official web site of the Åland islands, Finland
  4. "Treasure bubbles to the surface". The Australian. News Limited. 18 July 2010. Retrieved 18 July 2010.
  5. "'World's oldest champagne' found on Baltic seabed". BBC News. 17 July 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  6. Lechmere, Adam, Decanter.com (November 17, 2010). Champagne still 'fresh' after nearly two centuries in Baltic
  7. "Veuve Clicquot: Shipwrecked champagne was ours". Yahoo! News. 17 November 2010. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
  8. "www.nyan.ax local newspaper (in swedish)". Nya Åland. 17 January 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  9. The oldest champagne found at the bottom of the sea

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