MOET & CHANDON CHAMPAGNE

A bit of history

Moët et Chandon began as Moët et Cie (Moët & Co.), founded by Claude Moët, a wine merchant from Epernay in 1743. He began shipping his wine made in Champagne to Paris. The reign of King Louis XV coincided with an increased demand for sparkling wine. Soon after its foundation, the cellar's clientele grew and attracted more and more notables and aristocrats. 

The company was renamed Moët et Chandon in 1833, after Pierre-Gabriel Chandon de Briailles, Remy Moët's son-in-law, joined the business as a partner of Jean-Remy Moët, grandson of Claude Moët.

After introducing the concept of vintage champagne in 1840, Moët marketed its first vintage in 1842. Their best-selling brand, Brut Imperial, was launched in the 1860s. Their best-known label, Dom Pérignon, bears the name of the Benedictine monk who is remembered in legend as the "Father of Champagne".

Moët & Chandon merged with Hennessy Cognac in 1971 and with Louis Vuitton in 1987 to become LVMH (Louis-Vuitton-Moët-Hennessy), the world's largest luxury group, totaling more than 16 billion euros in the 2004 fiscal year. Moët & Chandon holds a royal warrant as a supplier of champagne to Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2006, Moët et Chandon Brut Impérial launched an extremely limited bottling of its champagne "Be Fabulous", a special launch of its original bottle with decorative Swarovski crystals, marking the elegance of Moët et Chandon.

The Emperor of brilliance

Great taste. Powerful sensations. Ample fruit. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The whole palette of champagne grape varieties is represented: it is the imperial mantle of Champagne in a glass.

Strength. Balance. Richness.

Moët & Chandon expresses, more than any other house, the true spirit of Champagne, that of blending: the art of marrying the grapes from the different soils of the region, the different grape varieties and the different years to create a wine that sublimates them all. The sun of Austerlitz is rising. A glass of Moët is always sunny, radiant with joy and enthusiasm.

Apple, grapefruit, pineapple, exotic fruits when ripe: Moet offers the palate a firework of fragrances. A dazzling fruitiness by its intensity, its purity, its sharpness: a blend of more than two hundred different villages. The brilliance of the fruit quickly rises very high, then falls back into a thousand expressive fragrances. Then the wine shows its maturity and generosity with tasty and generous notes of butter, brioche and honey.

Finally, the fireworks on the palate end with the salty, mineral and iodized notes of chalk; the white trace of the great Jurassic sea that gave the Champagne vineyard its unique soil. The ode to the champagne region thus ends with a tribute to the land.

A very bright wine that is self-sufficient and always advocates the freedom to dare. Since its creation in 1743, Moët & Chandon, the Emperor of Champagne has always dominated its world. Without ostentation and without arrogance, but by the radiance of his brilliance.

The vineyard’s greatness

It's no surprise that the wine that best embodies the quintessence of champagne comes from the region's largest estate. Of these 1,150 hectares of rich limestone soil, 50% are classified as Grand Cru and 25% as Premier Cru.

Blended from the three main grape varieties of Champagne, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, our champagnes are made from the largest vineyards in the five main areas of the region. Their richness and abundance allow us to choose the best.

With vineyards located in the Montagne de Reims, Côte des Blancs, Vallée de la Marne, Sézanne and Aube, Moët & Chandon has access to the largest number of crus: 75% of the Champagne vineyards (234 of the 319 crus de Champagne), 100% of the 17 Grands Crus and 70% of the 44 Premiers Crus (31 villages).

The great diversity of fruits and vineyards guarantees the best selection of grapes, thus maintaining the consistency of the Moët Impérial and the originality of the Grand Vintage. Assembled from the three major grape varieties of Champagne, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, our champagnes are made from the largest vineyards in the five main areas of the region. Their richness and abundance allow us to choose the best.

A unique savoir-faire

The historical savoir-faire of Moët & Chandon combines with leading-edge technology to create the harmonious and internationally recognized balance of the brand’s champagnes.

Moët & Chandon's style is singular: a bright fruitiness, a tasty palate and an elegant maturity, the result of a slow and gradual progression from the vineyard to the cellar. Each step of the process relies on the complementary know-how of the winemakers, cellar staff, oenological teams and other professionals, all united by the strong principles that make up our core values, our Wine Credo.

As Cellar Master, Benoît Gouez exercises his art to guarantee the distinctive character of Moët & Chandon champagnes. His expertise and integrity are essential to extract the best from each harvest and to "enhance and sublimate the special characteristics of each grape harvested in Champagne". It is his deep respect for the intrinsic quality of the fruit that makes him the ideal guarantor/protector of the Moët & Chandon style. 

MOËT & CHANDON