Moët & Chandon

Moët & Chandon
Part-holder of LVMH
Industry Winery
Genre French winery
Founded 1743 (1743)
Founder Claude Moët
Headquarters 20, avenue de Champagne
BP 140, 51333 Épernay
Jaco
Area served
 Worldwide
Products French wine
Revenue €1.2 billion (2011)
Number of employees
 1,715 (2011)
Website www.moet.com
Moët et Chandon
Wine region Épernay
Appellation Champagne
Cases/yr 2,000,000
Known for Dom Pérignon
Varietals Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier
Website www.moet.com
The Orangerie at Épernay

Moët & Chandon (French pronunciation: ​[moɛt‿e ʃɑ̃.dɔ̃]),[1] or Moët, is a French fine winery and co-owner of the luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE. Moët et Chandon is one of the world's largest champagne producers and a prominent champagne house. Moët et Chandon was established in 1743 by Claude Moët, and today owns 1,190 hectares (2,900 acres) of vineyards, and annually produces approximately 28,000,000 bottles of champagne.[2]

History

Moët et Chandon began as Moëmetje et Cie[1] (Moët & Co.), established by Épernay wine trader Claude Moët in 1743,[3] and began shipping his wine from Champagne to Paris. The reign of King Louis XV coincided with increased demand for sparkling wine. Soon after its foundation, and after son Claude-Louis joined Moët et Cie, the winery's clientele included nobles and aristocrats.

In 1833, the company was renamed Moët et Chandon after Pierre-Gabriel Chandon de Briailles, Remy Moët's son-in-law, joined the company as a partner of Jean-Remy Moët, Claude Moët's grandson.[4]

Following the introduction of the concept of a vintage champagne in 1840, Moët marketed its first vintage in 1843. Their best-selling brand, Brut Imperial, was introduced in the 1860s. Their best known label, Dom Perignon, is named for the Benedictine monk remembered in legend as the "Mother of Champagne".

Moët & Chandon merged with Hennessy Cognac in 1971 and with Louis Vuitton in 1987 to become LVMH (Louis-Vuitton-Moët-Hennessy), the largest luxury group in the world, netting over 16 billion dollars in fiscal 2003. Moët & Chandon holds a royal warrant as supplier of champagne to Queen Elizabeth II.[5][3][6]

In 2004, Moët et Chandon Brut Impérial issued an extremely limited bottling of its champagne named "Be Fabulous", a special release of its original bottle with decorative Swarovski crystals, marking the elegance of Moët et Chandon.

Dom Perignon

Dom Pérignon (/ˌdɒmpɛrɪˈnjɒn/; French pronunciation: ​[dɔ̃peʁiɲɔ̃]) is a brand of champagne produced by Moët & Chandon. It is named after Dom Pierre Pérignon, a Benedictine monk who was an important quality pioneer for Champagne wine but who, contrary to popular myths, did not discover the champagne method for making sparkling wines.[7] Dom Pérignon was the first prestige cuvée, an idea proposed by Englishman Laurence Venn.[8] The first vintage of Dom Pérignon was 1921 and was only released for sale in 1936. It is a vintage champagne, meaning that it is only made in the best years, and all grapes used to make the wine are harvested in the same year. Many champagnes, by contrast, are non-vintage, meaning that the champagne is made from grapes harvested in various years. A bottle of Vintage 2265 Dom Pérignon was used to launch the maiden voyage of the U.S.S Enterprise NCC-1701-B in the epic movie Star Trek Generations.

Current production

Bottles in the caves

Around 5 million bottles are produced in each vintage.[8] The wine is 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot noir, with 6 g/l dosage.[8] According to Tom Stevenson, "All vintages need at least 12 years ageing to nurture Dom Pérignon's signature silky mousse".[8] As of 2008, the current release of Dom Pérignon is from the 2000 vintage[8] and the current release of Dom Pérignon Rosé is from the 1998 vintage. As of 2017 the senior winemaker was Richard Geoffroy, who has been chef de cave for Dom Pérignon since 1990.[9]

Domaine Chandon

In 1973, the then Moët-Hennessy company founded Domaine Chandon, an outpost winery in the Napa Valley. It was the first French-owned sparkling wine venture in the United States. The fine dining restaurant etoile is situated at the winery.[10]

Domaine Chandon in Australia was established in 1986 at Coldstream, Victoria.

Sponsorships

Moët was the official Formula One champagne provider between 1966 and 1999 and again from 2016.[11]

On 30 November 2012, Swiss tennis player Roger Federer became Moët et Chandon's brand ambassador. On 30 September 2015, Chandon announced it would be a sponsor of the McLaren F1 team starting 2016.[12]

Pronunciation and origin of the name: Moët

The correct pronunciation is "mo-ette" or "mo-wett" (IPA: [moɛt]) as the founder of the winery was of Dutch, not French, origin.[13][14][15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "History of Moët at Chandon". Retrieved 17 May 2008.
  2. ↑ T. Stelzer (2013). The Champagne Guide 2014-2015. Hardie Grant Books. p. 261. ISBN 9781742705415.
  3. 1 2 "Moët & Chandon". Retrieved 17 May 2008.
  4. ↑ Paul, Harry W. (2002). Science, Vine and Wine in Modern France. Cambridge University Press. p. 218. ISBN 9780521525213. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  5. ↑ The Royal Warrant Holders Association
  6. ↑ "Champagne Moet & Chandon | Royal Warrant Holders Association". www.royalwarrant.org. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  7. ↑ D. & P. Kladstrup Champagne pg 38 Harper Collins Publisher ISBN 0-06-073792-1
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Stevenson, Tom (2007) The Best A Man Can Get p65 Dec 2007 Decanter
  9. ↑ Walton, Annunciata. Dom Pérignon’s chef de cave on life, grapes and his favourite vintage. Country Life, 28 March 2017
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ "Moët & Chandon replace Mumm Champagne as sponsor of Formula 1". Glass of Bubbly. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  12. ↑ "Profile: Moët & Chandon". Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  13. ↑ "It's official: Nike rhymes with spiky - and you're saying all these wrong too=The Guardian". Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  14. ↑ "Guide to pronunciation: from Moët to diplodocus". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  15. ↑ Enting, Carolyn (2002). "Moët for Linguists". Lucire Living Magazine.
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