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I first met Stephen Leroux in 2018 during a visit to Charles Heidsieck in Reims. He greeted me with a warm smile and a friendly handshake, before getting down to tasting business. Unusually we started with Charles’ Rosé Reserve.

He told me, “We like to start with a non-vintage rosé as the amount of reserve wine is twice less – at 20% with just five to six years’ of age. In our Brut Reserve, it’s the opposite with 40% reserve wine at an average of 10 years of age.”

It was a pivotal moment that re-framed my mind to appreciate the significance of the reserve wine system in creating Charles’ unequivocal style. Their proportion and age have a massive effect on the body of the wine. Indeed, the non-vintage rose was far fresher than the non-vintage brut.

Charles’ characterful sourcing of fruit – notably the inclusion from Montgueux – and generous and masterful inclusion of reserve wines in their NVs sets the scaffolding for the Maison’s cathedral-like structure, richness and complexity.

In this interview I talk to Stephen about Charles’ defining style but also how it’s evolving as well as the rise and rise of Charles under his leadership and through the incredible work of former and current chefs de caves.