Piper Heidsieck Cuvée Essentiel NV Gift Box 750ml

Piper Heidsieck Essentiel is the Reims house’s Extra Brut Champagne, here in a gift box. It shares the house’s signature grapes, Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay, but spends longer on lees and gets a lower dosage than the Cuvée Brut, for a drier, more food-focused style. It is 12% ABV.

Buy Piper Heidsieck Cuvée Essentiel NV Gift Box Online in New Zealand

Essentiel is built for the table. Piper-Heidsieck draws on more than 50 crus and a library of more than 150 reserve wines, kept cru by cru on fine lees. Each release is tied to a year of cellaring, printed on the label as Mise en Cave. It spends at least 36 months on lees, rests at least six months after disgorgement and carries 5 g/L dosage. The disgorgement date is on the back label.

In style it is drier and more textured than Cuvée Brut: the long ageing gives a creamy feel, and the low dosage lets minerality and a little salinity come through.

Serve at 10 to 12 degrees, a little warmer than a standard Brut, in a white wine glass. The house suggests Parmigiano shortbread with the aperitif, then turbot with beurre blanc, scallops with parmesan risotto, or roast free-range chicken with lime. It can also age: the house says 10 years or more. A smart gift for someone who already likes drier Champagne.