CHAMPAGNE aspirations

The promise of bespoke French bubbles lured Lucas Restaurants to Reims to craft a signature blend for Society with Piper-Heidsieck. MICHAEL HARDEN tags along.

- MICHAEL HARDEN

Not far from the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims, in the unofficial capital of Champagne, is Boulevard Lundy, a tree- and mansion-lined street where many of the Champagne region’s world famous houses maintain city pads. Krug, Veuve Clicquot, Champagne Jacquart and Louis Roederer all keep residences here, gorgeous hôtel particulier where guests and clients are hosted, as are tastings, dinners and parties. The most recent addition to this storied throng is the EPI Group, owner of Piper-Heidsieck, Charles Heidsieck and Rare Champagne, which opened the ornately carved wooden gates of Résidence Eisenhower to guests in 2022.

Résidence Eisenhower operates as a private eight-room hotel but is also integral to an innovative program by Piper-Heidsieck called Essentiel By. A collaborative project between Piper-Heidsieck and a select group of restaurants worldwide – around 30 – Essentiel By brings the head chefs and sommeliers from these chosen restaurants to Reims to stay at the Résidence while they collaborate with Piper’s winemakers to blend a Champagne specific to and exclusively served in their restaurant.

In the fumoir of Résidence Eisenhower, a cosy oakpanelled room with plum-coloured Le Corbusier armchairs matching the plum-coloured marble fireplace and a mindboggling history (it’s where Eisenhower called US President Roosevelt to tell him the Germans had surrendered), Piper-Heidsieck CEO Benoît Collard explains the origins and goals of Essentiel By.