(97+ points) The flagship release is the 2006 Champagne Rare, a 70/30 split of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that’s a cellar selection from 8 different Grand Cru vineyards. Tight, backward, and straight-up structured, it offers brilliant notes of stone fruits, toasted brioche, white flowers, and obvious minerality. Needing plenty of air to show at its best, this beauty has a wonderful mid-palate, a racy mousse, and the balance and class to cruise for over two decades in cool cellars.

Aromas and flavors of toasted brioche and grilled nut enrich the yellow plum, nectarine and grated ginger notes of this rich and creamy Champagne. Finely woven and beautifully integrated, with a firm backbone of mouthwatering acidity providing precise balance for the lush range of flavor. Drink now through 2029. 14,000 cases made, 1,800 cases imported. — AN

From a vintage remembered for its June and July heat waves, the 2006 Rare Millésime from magnum—disgorged in 2021 with a dosage of seven grams per liter—is rich and demonstrative. It opens with aromas of candied pear, roasted pineapple, mango and buttered toast. The palate is full-bodied, broad-shouldered and enveloping, with a generous core of fruit, ripe yet vibrant acidity and a long, attractively phenolic finish. A generous, sun-kissed rendition that encapsulates the vintage’s warmth, it remains well-balanced and exudes a compelling charm in its distinctive stylistic register. Drawn from 12 villages harvested in early September, it will age more on its concentration rather than acidity. It’s an entirely different beast compared to the 2007 and 2008 vintages that followed. - Kristaps Karklins

Piper-Hiedsieck's 2006 Cuvée Rare is racy and polished to the core. Baked apple tart, apricot, lemon confit, vanillin and brioche infuse the 2006 with striking aromatic intensity and creaminess that builds with time in the glass. Sumptuous and forward, the 2006 offers tons of near and medium-term appeal. -- Antonio Galloni