Charles Camille Heidsieck (1822-1893) was the founder of one of the three Heidsieck Champagne Houses. In 1852, he visited the USA for the first time and travelled through the New England region and the state of New York. He recognised the huge potential of champagne for the American market. The business became a great success and led to record sales. Within a very short time, 300,000 bottles of champagne were sold. When Charles Heidsieck returned to the USA five years later, it was reported in many newspapers and banquet receptions were held in his honour. On further trips, he developed the persona of "Champagne Charlie", which was an integral part of the New York high-society scene.
In 1861, the American War of Secession began. As more than half of Heidsieck's fortune was tied up in unpaid accounts in the USA, Heidsieck travelled by sailing ship. A Northern law also exempted his agent from paying his debts to Heidsieck. Now Heidieck secretly made his way south to New Orleans to receive repayment directly from the merchants who had received the champagne. There, however, he was not dispatched with cash, but with cotton, which was in great demand in Europe. He tried to smuggle the cotton from the port in Mobile (Alabama) to Europe on two ships. This failed and both ships were sunk.
To facilitate his passage to Europe, he was given a diplomatic pouch by the French consul in Mobile with the request that it be delivered to the consulate in New Orleans. However, the city had been captured in the meantime by the Northern Army under General Benjamin Butler (1818-1893). In the bag were documents from French textile manufacturers about the supply of uniforms to the Confederate armies. Despite Heidsieck's protestations of innocence through ignorance of the documents, he was charged with espionage and imprisoned at Fort Jackson, Louisiana, for over seven months. This caused a diplomatic incident between France and the US. Emperor Napoleon III (1808-1873) then lobbied US President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) for his release.
Badly affected in health and demoralised, Heidsieck returned to France. His business had gone bankrupt as his wife had to sell the family estate to pay his debts. In early 1863, he received a packet of papers and a letter from the USA. On his earlier visits to North America, Heidsieck had lent money to a man named Thomas Bayaud, who used it to buy land in the US state of Colorado near the then small village of Denver, and over time expanded it into a huge estate. Bayaud had appointed him as his heir. With the sale of his inherited property, Heidsieck was able to reactivate the champagne house and lead it to new prosperity.
Around 1870, George Leybourne's musical "Champagne Charlie" became a great success. However, the producer George Leyborne named the champagne brand in the musical on the basis of correspondingly high remuneration. In the USA this was the brand Heidsieck, but in the English "Music Halls" it was mainly this champagne that was mentioned:
Champagne Charlie was my name, Champagne drinking gain'd my fame,
So as of old when on the spree, Moët and Chandon's the wine for me.
Champagne producer Joseph Henriot (1936-2015) was head of Henriot (spirits) and Charles Heidsieck (champagne), two companies that merged for a few years but later became independent again. He was the author of the novel "Champagne Charlie" published in 1982. The adventurous life of Charles Camille Heidsieck was then filmed in 1989 with actor Hugh Grant in the leading role and ran in two episodes on TV. Other well-known entertainment films related to wine and viticulture are described under the heading Cinema and TV films.
Source: WIKIPEDIA Charles Heidsieck
Picture Charles Heidsieck: Agne27, Public Domain, Link
Novel cover: Fair use, Link
Movie poster: Champagne Charlie (1989 film), CC BY-SA 3.0
Benjamin Butler: By Mathew Brady, Public Domain, Link
