Moët & Chandon

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Moët & Chandon
Part-holder of LVMH
Industry Winery
Genre French winery
Founded 1743; 281 years ago (1743)
Founder Claude Moët
Headquarters 20, avenue de Champagne
BP 140, 51333 Épernay
France
Area served
 Worldwide
Products French wine
Revenue €1.2 billion (2011)
Number of employees
 1,715 (2011)
Website www.moet.com
Moët et Chandon
Moët et Chandon.jpg
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 expansive champagne producers and a prominent champagne house. The company holds a royal warrant to supply champagne to Elizabeth II.[2] Moët et Chandon was established in 1743 by Claude Moët, and today owns 1,150 hectares (2,800 acres) of vineyards, and annually produces approximately 28,000,000 bottles of champagne. [3]

History

Moët et Chandon began as Moët et Cie[1] (Moët & Co.), established by Épernay wine trader Claude Moët in 1743,[4] 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 Moet et Chandon after Pierre-Gabriel Chandon, the director of maisson4, joined the company as a partner of Jean-Remy Moet, Claude Moet's grandson.

Following the introduction of the concept of a vintage champagne in 1840, Moët marketed its first vintage in 1842. 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 "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 largest luxury group in the world, netting over 16 billion euros in fiscal 2004. Moët & Chandon holds a Royal Warrant as supplier of champagne to Queen Elizabeth II.[5][4]

In 2006, 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.

Moët was the official Formula One champagne provider between 1966 and 1999 before being replaced by G. H. Mumm.

Dom Perignon

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Main article: Dom Pérignon (wine)
A bottle of vintage 1999 Dom Pérignon with accompanying materials
Statue of Dom Pierre Pérignon, a Benedictine monk

Dom Pérignon (/ˌdɒmpɛrɪˈnjɒn/; French pronunciation: ​[dɔ̃peʁiɲɔ̃]) is a brand of Champagne produced by Moët et Chandon. It is named after Dom 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.[6] Dom Pérignon was the first prestige cuvée, an idea proposed by Englishman Laurence Venn.[7] The first vintage of Dom Pérignon was 1921 and was only released for sale in 1936. Dom Pérignon is a vintage champagne, meaning that it is only made in the best years, and all grapes used to make the wine were harvested in the same year. Many champagnes, by contrast, are non-vintage, which means that the champagne is made from grapes harvested in various years.

Current production

Bottles in the caves

Around 5 million bottles are produced in each vintage.[7] The wine is 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot noir, with 6 g/l dosage.[7] According to Tom Stevenson, "All vintages need at least 12 years ageing to nurture Dom Pérignon's signature silky mousse".[7] As of 2008, the current release of Dom Pérignon is from the 2000 vintage[7] and the current release of Dom Pérignon Rosé is from the 1998 vintage. The current (2009) winemaker is Richard Geoffroy, who has been Chef de Cave for Dom Pérignon since 1998.

Domaine Chandon

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Main article: 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.[8]

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

Sponsorships

On 30 November 2012, Roger Federer became Moët et Chandon's brand ambassador. On 30 September 2015, Chandon announced it would be a sponsor of the McLaren-Honda F1 Team starting 2016.[9]

Pronunciation

The correct pronunciation is "mo-ette" or "mo-wett" (IPA: [moɛt]), as it is originally a Dutch name that has retained its native pronunciation in French.[10]

Culture

Moët & Chandon is mentioned in the songs "Drop It Like It's Hot" by Snoop Dogg; "Killer Queen" by Queen; "N.Y. State of Mind", "It Ain't Hard to Tell", and "Represent" by Nas; and "Juicy", "Big Poppa", and "Everyday Struggle" by The Notorious B.I.G.; and "7 Days" by Craig David. Dom Perignon is mentioned in the song "Big Shot" by Billy Joel. It is also mentioned in Richard Strauss's opera, Arabella.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ http://www.royalwarrant.org/company/champagne-moet-chandon?back=%2Fdirectory%3Fquery%3DMoet
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ The Royal Warrant Holders Association
  6. ↑ D. & P. Kladstrup Champagne pg 38 Harper Collins Publisher ISBN 0-06-073792-1
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Stevenson, Tom (2007) The Best A Man Can Get p65 Dec 2007 Decanter
  8. ↑ [1]
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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