Moët & Chandon

"Moët" redirects here. For other uses, see Moët (disambiguation).

Moët & Chandon
Company typePart-holder of LVMH
IndustryWinery
GenreFrench winery
Founded1743; 281 years ago (1743)
FounderClaude Moët
HeadquartersÉpernay, Grand Est, France
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsFrench wine
Revenue€1.2 billion (2011)
Number of employees
1,715 (2011)
Websitewww.moet.com
Moët et Chandon
Wine regionÉpernay
AppellationChampagne
Cases/yr2,000,000
Known forDom Pérignon
VarietalsPinot noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier
Websitewww.moet.com
The Orangerie at Épernay

Moët & Chandon (French: [mɔɛt‿e ʃɑ̃dɔ̃]),[1] also known simply as Moët, is a French fine winery and part 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

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Moët et Chandon began as Moët et Cie[1] (meaning "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 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". The brand was owned by Champagne Mercier but was given to Moët in 1927.

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 was holding a royal warrant as supplier of champagne to Queen Elizabeth II.[5][3][6]

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.

Dom Pérignon

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Main article: Dom Pérignon (wine)

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 1999 Dom Pérignon with accompanying materials
    A bottle of vintage 1999 Dom Pérignon with accompanying materials
  • Statue of Dom Pierre Pérignon, a Benedictine monk
    Statue of Dom Pierre Pérignon, a Benedictine monk

Current production

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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 2020, the current release of Dom Pérignon is from the 2010 vintage[8] and the current release of Dom Pérignon Rosé is from the 2006 vintage. As of 2017 the senior winemaker was Richard Geoffroy, who has been chef de cave for Dom Pérignon since 1990.[9]

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 étoile was located at the winery, until it closed in December 2014.[10]

Chandon had already founded an outpost in Argentina in 1959, and was doing the same in the southern city of Garibaldi in Brasil in 1973.[citation needed] Domaine Chandon was later established in 1986 in Australia in Coldstream, Victoria, in the Ningxia region in China in 2013 and India's Nashik region in 2014.[citation needed]

Sponsorships

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Moët was the official Formula One champagne provider between 1966 and 1999 and again from 2016[11] until 2017 when they signed a deal with champagne maker Carbon.[12]

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.[13]

Pronunciation

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Moët is pronounced with a "t" at the end (IPA: [mɔɛt]) ('mo-et') as the French-born founder's surname is assumed to be of non-French (alleged Dutch-German) origin.[14][15][16]

Songs

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In the band Queen's song "Killer Queen", the lead singer Freddie Mercury sings "She keeps her Moët et Chandon in her pretty cabinet".

Musician Prince mentions "a little Spanish man offering wine and Moët" in his song "Mr. Goodnight" from his Planet Earth album.

In his song "Big Poppa", the rapper Notorious B.I.G. sings "at the back of the club sipping Moët is where you'll find me".

In his song, "Comin Thru", Chali 2na sings "I don't drink, my glass never will hold Moët".

In his song "Check Out My Melody", Rakim says: "Emcees that wanna be best, they're gonna be dissed if they don't get from in front of All they can go get is me a glass of Moët, A hard time, sip your juice and watch a smooth poet".

In his song "Curls", MF Doom sings, "Yup, you know it, growin' up too fast; showin' up to class with Moet in a flask".

In his song, "The Way Life Goes", the rapper Lil Uzi Vert sings "She's sipping Moët, and yeah, I swear it gets her wetter".

Craig David mentions Moët as part of his week-long date plans in the song "7 Days."

In his song "Bloodless", Andrew Bird sings "And the poets, they explode like bombs, While the gentry is drinking Moët Chandon".

In her song "The Roof", Mariah Carey sings "So we finished the Moët and started feeling liberated".

In his song "Cristal & MOЁT", a Russian rapper Morgenshtern sings "I pour Cristal or Chantel MOЁT, you were dreaming about it, now it's mine".

In his song “Represent,” rapper Nas sings “Yo, they call me Nas, I’m not your legal type of fella, Moët drinkin’, marijuana smokin’ street dweller”. Moët is also mentioned in his song "It Ain't Hard to Tell" in the lyric "I drink Moët with Medusa, give her shotguns in Hell; From the spliff that I lift and inhale; it ain't hard to tell". The champagne is also mentioned in his songs Reach Out and Affirmative action.

In her song "The Motto", American singer Ava Max sings "popping that Moët, baby lets make some bubbles".

In her song "Muñecas", Argentinian singer Tini Stoessel sings "bottles are uncorked, tonight there will be rain of Moët".

Incident

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In June 2022, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority warned that the 3-liter champagne bottle from Moët & Chandon Ice Impérial contained MDMA, killing a person in Germany.[17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "History of Moët at Chandon". Retrieved 17 May 2008.
  2. ^ T. Stelzer (2013). The Champagne Guide 2014–2015. Hardie Grant Books. p. 261. ISBN 978-1742705415.
  3. ^ a b "Moët & Chandon". Retrieved 17 May 2008.
  4. ^ Paul, Harry W. (2002). Science, Vine and Wine in Modern France. Cambridge University Press. p. 218. ISBN 978-0521525213. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  5. ^ The Royal Warrant Holders Association
  6. ^ "Champagne Moet & Chandon | Royal Warrant Holders Association". www.royalwarrant.org. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  7. ^ D. & P. Kladstrup Champagne p. 38 Harper Collins Publisher ISBN 0060737921
  8. ^ a b c d e Stevenson, Tom (2007) The Best A Man Can Get p6. 5 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. ^ "Domaine Chandon, Auberge de Soleil still strong". 15 March 2013.
  11. ^ "Moët & Chandon replace Mumm Champagne as sponsor of Formula 1". Glass of Bubbly. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  12. ^ "F1 signs deal with $3000-per-bottle Carbon champagne brand". www.motorsport.com. 30 July 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  13. ^ "Profile: Moët & Chandon". Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  14. ^ "It's official: Nike rhymes with spiky - and you're saying all these wrong too". TheGuardian.com. 3 June 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  15. ^ "Guide to pronunciation: from Moët to diplodocus". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  16. ^ Enting, Carolyn (2002). "Moët for Linguists". Lucire Living Magazine.
  17. ^ "Food safety authority issues second warning against MDMA in champagne bottles". NL Times.
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