Piper-Heidsieck

History

1. 1785

   A cloth merchant from Westphalia

   Florens-Louis Heidsieck, born in 1749, the son of a Protestant pastor from Westphalia, settled in Reims as a cloth merchant. In 1785 he founded the firm Heidsieck & Cie, trading in cloth and Champagne wine. He wanted to make a wine “worthy of a queen”, and according to house tradition he presented it to Marie Antoinette himself.

2. 1828-1838

   The widow marries Piper

   After the founder's death in 1828, his nephew Christian Heidsieck went into partnership with Henri-Guillaume Piper, a born merchant. Christian died in 1835, and three years later his widow married Piper. This is how the name Piper-Heidsieck was born. Fourteen royal courts, from the Habsburgs to the emperors of China, gave the house the title of purveyor.

3. 1870-1944

   An aviator in the cellars

   After Piper's death in 1870 the house was run by his partner since 1851, Jacques-Charles Théodore Kunkelmann, and from 1892 by his son Ferdinand-Théodore. Ferdinand-Théodore's daughter Yolande married in 1926 the Marquis Jean de Suarez d'Aulan, an aviation pioneer who promoted the house by flying around the world in his own plane. During the war he hid weapons for the Resistance in the cellars. The day before his planned arrest by the Gestapo he fled to North Africa, flew as a fighter pilot in the Lafayette squadron and was killed in combat in 1944.

4. 1945-1988

   Yolande saves the house

   The occupiers placed the house under compulsory administration. After the liberation it was revived by Yolande Kunkelmann d'Aulan, supported by General Baron d'Alès, whom she married in 1945. In 1957 her son François d'Aulan took over and ran the house for more than thirty years. In 1988 he sold it to the Rémy Cointreau group of the Hériard-Dubreuil family.

5. 1993-2020

   The Champagne of the red carpet

   From 1993 to 2020 Piper-Heidsieck was the official Champagne of the Cannes Film Festival, and from 2015 to 2020 also of the Oscars. Since 2008 it has supported the Cinémathèque française and helped fund the restoration of Buñuel's “L'Âge d'Or”. In 1999 and 2011 Jean-Paul Gaultier dressed the bottles in a red corset and fishnets, in 2007 they were decorated by Viktor & Rolf, and in 2009 by Christian Louboutin.

6. 2011-2026

   A new owner, a new generation

   On 8 July 2011 the house was bought by Christopher Descours's EPI group. In 2018, after Régis Camus, chef de cave since 2002, the cellars were briefly taken over by Séverine Frerson, and after her move to Perrier-Jouët by 31-year-old Émilien Boutillat, the youngest chef de cave at a major house. In 2022 Piper-Heidsieck gained B Corp certification with a score of 91.9 points, and in 2025 renewed it with a score of 102.6 points. Since 1 October 2026 Boutillat has headed the cellars at Bollinger.

People

Curiosities

1. In 1933 Piper-Heidsieck appeared in the Laurel and Hardy film “Sons of the Desert”. It is often said to have been the first Champagne on the big screen. source
2. rumour According to a rumour repeated by VinePair, among others, Marilyn Monroe kept a month's supply of Piper-Heidsieck in her kitchen. source
3. Both Piper-Heidsieck and Heidsieck & Co Monopole give the same founding year, 1785, and the same founder, Florens-Louis Heidsieck. Both houses grew out of his nephews' parting of ways in 1838. source
4. The headquarters in Reims, designed in 2008 by Jacques Ferrier, has a metal mesh façade that alludes to bubbles. source
5. Émilien Boutillat, who moved to Bollinger in 2026, co-created Armand de Brignac, the Champagne in gold bottles, as chef de cave at Cattier. source
6. The New York Public Library holds a menu of the Cercle Français de l'Harmonie from New York's Academy of Music, described as a Piper-Heidsieck reception. The library dates it to 1882. source