Henri-Guillaume PIPER (1801.1870)
Signed letter to Mr. Lemaire
Half a page, large quarto. Address and postal cancellations.
Reims. January 2, 1869.
Beautiful letter from the founder of Maison Piper-Heidsieck organizing the harvests of his champagne wines.
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"If you have no objection, we will postpone the delivery of our Pierry and Moussy wines until Monday of the following week , that is, January 11th. We therefore ask you to prepare to begin racking on that day or to inform us if there is any obstacle that will prevent you from doing so. Yours sincerely."
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Piper here orders his correspondent to carry out the "racking" of the champagne, an operation which consists of separating the wine from its lees during its aging in order to eliminate the deposits at the bottom of the barrels.
In 1785, in Reims, Florens-Louis Heidsieck founded the Heidsieck & Cie Champagne cloth and wine trading house . Upon Florens-Louis Heidsieck's death in 1828, his nephew and successor, Christian Heidsieck, partnered with Henri-Guillaume Piper. He died in 1835, and Henri-Guillaume Piper married his widow in 1838. The Piper-Heidsieck name originated from this union.
From Habsburg princes to the emperors of China, fourteen royal or imperial courts granted the House of Piper-Heidsieck the privilege of "official supplier." Throughout the world, high society desired "Piper wine, made by Heidsieck.".