Royal Revival: Rare Champagne Unveils Its 2015 at Versailles

Few Champagnes embody both artistry and history quite like Rare, and its latest release, unveiled at Versailles’ Petit Trianon – once the private residence of Queen Marie Antoinette – was a return to the royal setting where the house’s story first began in 1785.

It was on May 6 of that year that Florens-Louis Heidsieck, founder of his eponymously named Champagne house, from which Rare Champagne descended, presented a bottle to the queen, and centuries later the maison paid tribute to that moment with an unprecedented vertical tasting of every Rare Champagne vintage produced, culminating in the debut of the new 2015.

Legend has it that the meeting between Heidsieck and Marie Antoinette took place at the Temple of Love in the chateau gardens. The cuvee that Heidsieck gifted the queen was meant to carry an exotic flourish dear to her – a fruity, radiant signature that remains central to Rare Champagne’s identity.

A hundred years after that meeting, Piper-Heidsick, Rare Champagne's former parent brand, released a series of bottles adorned by Peter-Karl Faberge, jeweler to Tsar Alexander III. Another century after that, in 1985, Van Cleef & Arpels crafted a Haute Joaillerie edition of gold, diamonds and lapis lazuli to mark Rare Champagne’s first 20th-century vintage – a reflection of how the brand has always intertwined luxury, art and craftsmanship.

Over four decades, Rare Champagne has declared only 14 vintages: 1976, 1979, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013 and now 2015, with the limited cuvée Le Secret occupying its own discreet chapter. This edition, most cherished by longtime chef de cave Regis Camus – now succeeded by the talented Emilien Boutillat – embodies the maison’s pursuit of timelessness.

Boutillat led the recent tasting at Versailles, joined by Maud Rabin, director of the maison. The highlight was a pairing of the 2015 and 1985 vintages – two Champagnes shaped by opposite climatic forces – to be sold exclusively as a collector’s set, the older wine freshly disgorged in 2025 and showing astonishing youth.

The 2015 vintage, defined by what Boutillat called “a stark disparity between technological maturity and phenolic ripeness,” draws fruit from eleven villages, with 70 percent of the chardonnay from the Montagne de Reims – one of Rare’s signatures. The result is a Champagne of great precision and pristine balance, with subtle exotic nuances, refined pastry notes and exquisite tension. It will be released in 2026.

The fresher 2013 preceded the 2012, which spent an additional year aging. The former is distinctly mineral, with hints of coconut and restrained austerity; the latter richer and more evolved, showing notes of white chocolate and silky effervescence. Released last year, the 2012 only reached the U.S. market this past September.

The 2008 was poured both from bottle and magnum: the former thrillingly complex and expressive; the latter more restrained and youthful. It captures Rare’s hallmark profile – coconut, white chocolate, chalk, lemon zest, green apple and iodine on the nose, with creamy bubbles and zesty tension on the palate. The first disgorgement carried 10 grams per liter of dosage; subsequent releases are at nine.

The 2006 showed the most evolution, disgorged in 2021 and displaying the house’s signature pineapple note along with layers of viennoiserie and zabaglione. More archetypal, even by Boutillat’s own admission, is 2002 – once considered a warm year, yet beautifully balanced thanks to fruit from Trepail. Youthful and focused, it brims with candied citrus, chalk, vibrant minerals and subtle toast, carried by caressing bubbles and savory complexity.

The 1999 and 1998 vintages revealed a step back in time: the 1999 full of nuance and structure, the 1998 deeper and tarte Tatin-like, with chalky persistence. Le Secret - drawn mostly from 1997 and released in just a thousand bottles – remains a singular expression: mineral, deep, and non-dosé, one of Regis Camus’s proudest creations.

With the 1990, one understands Rare’s capacity to age. Aromas of dried flowers, caramel and baked apple mingle with taut acidity, a reminder that from this vintage onward, malolactic fermentation became standard practice. The 1988, meanwhile, offers a rustic, mineral complexity – chalk, peat and pineapple juice – yet retains vitality. It was the first vintage to declare each village source.

Then comes the 1985 – a year of black frost and small yields. The original disgorgement showed oxidative, sherry-like tones, but the 2025 disgorgement is luminous and fresh, bursting with rosewater, apple, almond and lychee. Superfine bubbles and a pristine finish make it one of Rare’s greatest rebirths.

Finally, a contrast between 1979 and 1976 closed the vertical. The 1979 shone with fruit depth and energy – dried mushrooms, apricot, pastry, chalk and caramel balanced by vibrant acidity. The 1976, by contrast, was austere and oxidative, a dry, savory echo of the past.

– Aldo Fiordelli, Senior Editor