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⚠ 12 Bottles Only: The 100-Point Blanc des Millenaires
Official California Allocation · Arrives Friday · $299.99 vs. $350–$380 Elsewhere
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Charles Heidsieck · Reims, Champagne · Est. 1851
| James Suckling 100 |
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Decanter 96 |
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Wine Advocate 95+ |
100 Point "Montrachet Grand Cru With Bubbles"
Decanter: “This will prove itself one of the wines of the vintage.”
Elsewhere it runs $350 to $380. Ours is $299.99 — and we were allocated twelve bottles.
Only 12 Bottles · Arrive Friday · Pre-Sell Open Now
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100% Chardonnay · Grand Cru · 7 Years On The Lees · Disgorged July 2025 · 9 g/l
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A Personal Note
Dear Artisans,
Pardon me a moment. I need to pick my jaw back up off the floor.
Allocations of great Champagne do not go to whoever asks loudest; they go to the accounts that support the house year-round. That is the only reason I can write this email. Our allocation of the Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires 2017 — the appropriately-rated 100-point tête de cuvée — is twelve bottles, and it lands in the shop this Friday.
Twelve bottles, for our entire list. Everything else in this note explains why they will not last the week.
Montrachet Grand Cru, With Bubbles
Blanc des Millénaires is 100% Chardonnay from the villages that define the grape in Champagne: Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize, Oger, Chouilly and Vertus. These are the chalk slopes of the Côte des Blancs, the most coveted Chardonnay vineyards in the region and arguably anywhere on earth. If Burgundy’s answer to that claim is Montrachet, this is Champagne’s: the same grape at the same rarefied level, finished with a mousse.
The house makes it only when the Chardonnay justifies it. In more than forty years there have been nine releases: 1983, 1985, 1990, 1995, 1996, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2014. The 2017 is the tenth. It spent seven years on the lees in the Roman-era chalk crayères beneath Reims, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and was disgorged in July 2025, so the bottles arriving Friday are as fresh as this wine can be bought.
Two varieties compose it, the cellar master says: chardonnay and time.
“One Of The Wines Of The Vintage”
James Suckling gave it a perfect score: “transparency and clarity that come through clearly and go on and on... Complete and unique. Refined and structured at the same time.” One hundred points is not a number he hands to Champagne often, and the note reads like a man trying to find a flaw and failing.
Decanter’s Tom Hewson went 96 this March and closed his review with the sentence that should end the deliberation: “This will prove itself one of the wines of the vintage.” His drinking window runs to 2040, so this is a bottle for both the anniversary dinner next month and the one in 2039.
Vinous, Wine Spectator, Jeb Dunnuck, and others have not published their ratings yet. Do not wait for them.
$299.99, And Why That Number Matters
Around the country this wine is selling for $350 to $380 a bottle. Ours is $299.99 — fifty to eighty dollars less, and is the lowest price in California for official, importer-direct bottles. Our buying relationships and the volume we do with this house are the whole explanation; nothing about the wine is discounted but the price.
That word “official” is worth a sentence. Cheaper bottles of prestige Champagne do surface online, and they are usually grey-market stock: bottles that left the official chain, crossed borders in unknown conditions, and sat in warehouses nobody can vouch for. For a wine that spent seven years resting in chalk at a constant cool temperature, provenance is not a technicality — it is the wine. Ours comes straight through the house’s California importer, disgorgement date on record.
How The Pre-Sale Works
Order now and your bottles are reserved from the twelve. The allocation arrives Friday, and we will confirm the moment your order is ready. First come, first served. And because one bottle of something this rare deserves company, we have listed every other Charles Heidsieck in the shop below, counted to the bottle — the house’s famous Brut Réserve included.
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| ★ Only The Tenth Release In Four Decades |
Charles Heidsieck
Blanc des Millénaires 2017
Blanc de Blancs · Côte des Blancs Grand Cru · Champagne
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100
James
Suckling
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96
Decanter
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95+
Wine
Advocate
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James Suckling
100 Points
"A very precise Blanc de Millenaires with subtle aromas of honeysuckle, jasmine, stones, steel, chalk, watercress and some white peaches. Medium- to full-bodied with transparency and clarity that come through clearly and go on and on. The first year they used wine from the grand cru village of Chouilly. Complete and unique. Refined and structured at the same time. Drink or hold."
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Decanter · Tom Hewson
96 Points
"Chardonnay in the well-drained chalk soils of the Côte des Blancs performed so well in torrid 2017 that Charles Heidsieck produced only the fifth vintage of Blanc des Millénaires in 30 years... With orange citrus, jasmine, sweet toasted almond and richer pear tart flavours building, this ultra fine blanc de blancs is cut with a dash of smoky, charry energy and citrus syrup length, already expressive yet bound to ramp up the nutty, toasty headiness with further time. This will prove itself one of the wines of the vintage. Drinking Window: 2026-2040." Mar 2026
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Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate · Kristaps Karklins
95+ Points
"Unfurling in the glass with aromas of almond paste, brioche and pear mingled with notes of orange oil and burnt buttered toast. Full-bodied, broad and nicely concentrated, the palate is built around a deep, generous core of fruit, complemented by ripe yet lively acidity that carries through to a long, saline finish... a considerable success. Drinking Window: 2027-2046."
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The Finest Bubble
18.5+/20 Points
"Bundles of citrus, ripe lemon, grapefruit and hints of lychee all wrapped around a pronounced chalky core... No shortage of freshness and a bundle of salinity give this a great finish. Super long flavours showing well for a champagne 7 months post disgorgement. FYI: 30% of the grapes are from Mesnil-sur-Oger and just over 20% from Vertus, which helps explain the mineral core of Mesnil and richness from Vertus. Drinks well now, will benefit from at least 5 years ageing."
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| Blanc des Millénaires · The 2017 In Full |
| Vineyards |
Grand Cru — Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize, Oger, Chouilly & Vertus |
| Grapes |
100% Chardonnay |
| Lees Ageing |
7 years in the chalk crayères beneath Reims, a UNESCO World Heritage Site |
| Disgorged |
July 2025 · Dosage 9 g/l |
| The Release |
Only the tenth Blanc des Millénaires ever produced; nine releases preceded it between 1983 and 2014 |
| Drink |
2026–2046, per Decanter and the Wine Advocate |
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Our Price
Elsewhere: $350–$380
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$299.99
Save $50–$80 · Lowest In California, Official Import
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● 12 Bottles Allocated · Arrive Friday · Pre-Sell Open
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While You Are Here
The Rest Of The House,
Counted To The Bottle.
Every Charles Heidsieck cuvée in stock right now. When a line below reads sold out, it is not coming back soon.
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Brut Réserve NV
JS 95 · WA 92 · VM 92 · JD 92 · WE 92 · WS 92
The cuvée that made “Champagne Charlie” famous: up to 50% reserve wines aged as long as 20 years, where most houses use 15–20%. Suckling, at 95: “Extremely intense... a creamy texture and a long, long finish.”
| $75.97 |
● 6 Bottles Remain |
Order The Brut Réserve →
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Blanc de Blancs NV
WE 95 · JS 94 · WS 93 · WA 92 · VM 91 · JD 91
The little brother of the Blanc des Millénaires — all Chardonnay, with Oger and Vertus making up half the blend. Wine Enthusiast, at 95: “mineral, beautifully textured and lightly yeasty.”
| $99.97 |
● Only 2 Bottles Remain |
Order The Blanc de Blancs →
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Rosé Réserve NV
JS 95 · WE 93 · JD 92 · WS 92 · WA 91+ · VM 91
The Brut Réserve blend deepened with red wines from Les Riceys. Suckling, at 95: “Really perfumed with flowers and light strawberry jam... ultrafine bubbles, lovely fruit.”
| $99.97 |
● 6 Bottles Remain |
Order The Rosé Réserve →
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Brut Rosé Millésime 2012
WS 95 · JS 95 · WE 94 · WA 93
A vintage rosé from eleven Grands and Premiers Crus in the “classic” 2012 year, aged ten years on its lees. Wine Spectator, at 95: “vibrant, well-integrated acidity... the long, fine-textured finish.” Only 125 cases came to the U.S.
| $159.97 |
● 4 Bottles Remain |
Order The 2012 Rosé →
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Brut Réserve NV · 1.5L Magnum
WS 93 · JS 93 · WA 92 · WE 92
The same Brut Réserve in the format Champagne ages best in, and the bottle that makes a party. Wine Spectator, at 93: “long, creamy and harmonious.” We have exactly one.
| $199.99 |
● 1 Magnum Remains |
Order The Magnum →
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The Bottom Line
Twelve bottles of a perfect Champagne,
$50 to $80 under the market.
A 100-point blanc de blancs from the greatest Chardonnay villages in Champagne, the tenth release of the cuvée in four decades, freshly disgorged, at the lowest price in California for official bottles. That sentence will not be true for long, because there are twelve of them and this email went to all of you.
If the Blanc des Millénaires escapes you, do not leave empty-handed — the Brut Réserve at $75.97 is one of the great everyday luxuries in the shop, and there are six of those.
Cheers,
— James Tran
Artisan Wine & Spirits · Mountain View, CA
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12 Bottles Of The 100-Point Blanc des Millenaires · Arrive Friday · Pre-Sell Open
Call 650-917-8080, text 650-880-3553, email sales@artisan.wine, or chat with us
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