Piper Heidsieck One champagne’s bold punt on the future

One Champagne’s bold punt on the future

PIPER-HEIDSIECK’S NEW CHEF DU CAVE, ÉMILIEN BOUTILLAT AT JUST 32 YEARS OF AGE IS YOUNG, ENERGETIC AND PASSIONATE. HIS EMPLOY BREAKS WITH THE TRADITIONAL MOULD OF OLDER MORE EXPERIENCED CHAMPAGNE MAKERS YET WITH HIM COMES THE ENTHUSIASTIC EMBRACE OF THE NEW. HIS MODERN OPINIONS AND TRAIL BLAZING IDEAS WILL GUIDE THE FAMOUS CHAMPAGNE BRAND ON A PATH OF INNOVATION WITH AN EYE FIRMLY ON ADAPTING TO THE LANGUAGE OF ITS FUTURE CONSUMERS. WE SPOKE WITH ÉMILIEN ON HIS RECENT VISIT TO AUSTRALIA FOR PIPER’S COLLABORATION WITH THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN IN MELBOURNE.

Tell us a bit about your career to date?

I was born in Champagne; my father is also a wine grower and winemaker so I grew up with him trimming the vines and walking the cellar. Then I decided to move out of Champagne and I studied not only the winemaking but also agronomy viticulture in Montpellier in the south of France. After a semester in philosophy, I wanted to learn from all the winemakers about their philosophies. I decided to work out of Champagne so I worked in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, as well as in Château Margaux in Bordeaux. Then I spent three years abroad working in the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere so I was able to make two harvests in just one year. I worked in New Zealand, in California, in Chile, South Africa. I think I was missing Champagne and my friends and my family, so I decided to come back home and work in the Champagne world. I came back in 2012 when I was working for another company, a family-owned winery in Champagne, Champagne Cattier, and I was the winemaker for Champagne Cattier and Armand de Brignac. I’m happy to be a part of the team Piper-Heidsieck for more than one year because I started on the first of October 2018. I have also worked with some winemakers making red still wine and white still wine as well.

You took over from Regis Camus in 2018, what are you hoping to achieve with Piper-Heidsieck?

This year was my first year at PiperHeidsieck and I worked very closely with Regis. We did plenty of tastings together and we talked a lot about his philosophy, the style and the DNA of the blend that he made for Piper-Heidsieck. That’s something that’s important for me and we have a good relationship, so my goal at Piper-Heidsieck is to keep and maintain the quality which is already very high. We have a very high standard of excellence and we don’t compromise on quality, a philosophy we have had for a very long time. The wine excellence has been there for years and decades and Regis was elected the best sparkling winemaker of the year many times.

So, it’s a lot to live up to?

Yes! There’s a small pressure, but it’s a good pressure because now my boss wants me to have even more [awards]. I want to maintain that style and the wine excellence we have, and I want to also take care of every detail of the process to see if we can improve and we can always improve things. I want to pay attention to every detail to increase the quality.

And for me, everything starts in the vineyards, so the vineyards and the sustainable farming in the vineyards is important for me, for the future. I will spend lots of time there in our vineyards - but also with all the [wine] growers we are working with everywhere in Champagne.

How would you describe Piper’s style today? Has that changed since the Maison was taken over by EPI?

The wine excellence was there before and in my winemaking team there are some winemakers that have been with the House for more than 30 years. The wine excellence has always been there. What’s changed with Christopher Descours [EPI President] and the EPI Group is that the owner is really into wine and he really loves the brand so he probably will allow us to go further, deeper in terms of quality and no compromise at all. I think the quality was there already in terms of winemaking but now we can even do better.

Piper has had a focus on special cuvées in recent times are there any in the pipeline that you can discuss and we can look forward to?

We have a big range, not that big but a nice range at Piper-Heidsieck with a nice diversity of wine. It’s kind of a family to

me - all of them are very high quality Champagnes. Just like your family, you have a son and daughter but cannot pick the favourite one because they are all different. I like all the Champagnes we have in our range. The most recent range we launched is the Essentiel range and inside that range we have two cuvées; Essentiel Extra Brut and Essentiel Blanc De Blanc. It’s a range more dedicated to the wine connoisseur, to the restaurant, to the fine wine shop. We also make some vintages. The philosophy at Piper-Heidsieck is not to make a vintage every year. We only make Vintage when the quality is amazing; the quality of the grapes. When all the weather conditions are great, they produce perfect grapes, so that’s the philosophy. Yes, we do have nice things in our cellars but as you know in Champagne you have to be patient, so you will have to wait a few more years to discover the nice treasure we have in our cellar.

Champagne as a region, is making changes to adapt to the warmer temperatures. How is Piper-Heidsieck addressing climate change?

That’s very important to me personally - global warming and what we can do to limit global warming and be sustainable in each step of our life. That’s also the philosophy at Piper-Heidsieck. We try to think globally and be as sustainable as possible at each step of the process. The process starts in the vineyards, so we are managing our vineyards sustainably. In fact, we have two certifications of sustainable viticulture. The first one is called HVE3 which means in French Haute Valeur Environnementale trois. This is a European level of sustainable farming. The second one is VDC and means in French, Viticulture durable en Champagne - sustainable viticulture in Champagne. This shows the two levels of sustainable farming and that’s what we have in our vineyards. I also work closely with all the growers we are working with in order to help them to move towards that direction in order to get them certified as well. I speak with the growers, we see what can be done, how we can help in terms of money but also in terms of technical advice. In fact, we want to keep the landscape of Champagne for the next generation, so we need to pay attention to every step. We also try to reduce waste; to reduce the amount of water we need to produce the Champagne so really at each of the step of the process we try to reduce waste and think sustainably at every step of the process. Also, you can see [the effects of] global warming by the harvest dates. Over the past 30 years, the harvest date is becoming earlier and earlier. We harvest today almost one month earlier than what we used to 30 years ago so that’s proof of global warming, and it affects the balance of the grapes. It’s important to make the right decision when you decide to pick the grapes, so I go in the vineyards before the harvest and taste the berries and adjust the harvest dates according to the balance that I can taste and feel in the berries.

Describe your vision of Champagne for the future.

It’s linked to what I just said because for me, the main challenge is global warming and the environment. For us at Piper-Heidsieck but also for Champagne in general, we need to think about what we can do. What can we change? What can we keep in order to be more and more sustainable? Our philosophy at Piper-Heidsieck is to look at what we have always done – the tradition of making viticulture but also look at the future and see what we can do with new technology to be more efficient and faster in the way we do sustainable farming. We did invest in a company based in Champagne that are creating a ‘bot’ – an autonomous tractor - to go into the vineyards in order to help the growers to remove the weeds under the row of vineyards mechanically without any pesticides. The autonomous tractor will do the job all day long and will save time for the growers to focus on other tasks, so that’s something that will be very interesting in the future and will help to be more sustainable than what we are doing today. We will have to face that challenge and we will both rely on tradition and audacity in order to face our challenges.

What is your favourite Piper-Heidsieck Champagne and why?

That’s a tricky question! I think it depends on the moment - the season, the time of the day, it really depends on that because as I said it’s a family, so I love all the Champagne we have.

So, you don’t have a favourite?

During summertime with a very sunny and hot day, I might want something really refreshing such as the Essentiel Blanc de Blanc or even the Cuvée Brut, or if I’m having a barbeque or a ‘barbie’ as you say here in Australia, with a nice piece of beef, I would go for the Rosé Sauvage because the pairing is just amazing with our audacious Rosé Sauvage.

But for wintertime by the fireplace with a nice dinner with some mushrooms or something, I would definitely go for the Vintage 2008. It depends on the moment of day and the people you are with.

Finally, can you claim the title of the youngest Chef de Cave in Champagne?

Yeah, I’m definitely one of the youngest in Champagne but there are a lot of wine makers and growers as well in Champagne. I’m sure you will be able to find a younger wine grower than me but if you look at the Grand Maison of Champagne, then yes definitely I am the youngest Chef de Cave at one of the big houses and I am very proud of it! It’s proof of the confidence of my boss and of the brand so I’m very proud of that title. It’s also proof of the audacity of the brand - to trust someone like me, yes I am young but also I have great experience working in France but also abroad so I think that talent is not a matter of age, and I am very happy to be trusted as the Chef de Cave of Piper-Heidsieck.