Piper-Heidsieck is one of the 10 oldest Champagne houses, founded in 1785 by the German Florens-Louis Heidsieck, who, in love with the young Agathe Perthois, used Champagne to seduce her. A few years later, none other than Queen Marie Antoinette was seduced by that Champagne.
In 1815 the maison took the name of Piper-Heidsieck when Florens-Louis’s cousin Henri-Guillaume Piper joined the company.
Since then, seduction has remained the winning weapon of the maison's style and in more recent times has attracted many Hollywood actors from Ava Gardner to Marilyn Monroe to Champagne Piper-Heidsieck. Marilyn once delcared to have a glass of it every morning upon waking up. The link with the show business has led Piper-Heidsieck to be the official supplier of the Cannes Film Festival since 1993. In 1989 the Piper-Heidsieck maison was acquired by the Rémy-Cointreau group and in 2011 by the Descours family together with the cousin house Charles Heidsieck.
From a technical point of view, Piper-Heidsieck's production philosophy is based on an important use of vins de réserve, in fact 50% of each harvest is destined to become réserve wine to be used in subsequent cuvées. Each base wine carries out malolactic fermentation and the distinctive feature of Piper-Heidsieck Champagne is the use of Pinot Noir from the Aube sub-region. A common aspect of the various labels of the maison is the fruity taste.
It produces 5 million bottles a year.