Moët & Chandon is the world's most recognizable Champagne brand and has seen phenomenal growth in recent years, particularly in China and India. As the largest Champagne producer, accounting for 9% of the region's output, Moët & Chandon has been very influential in opening new markets. Their best-selling cuvée, Brut Impérial NV, sells over 21 million bottles annually alone, demonstrating the company's immense scale of production from its 1,150 hectares of vineyards.

1. Easilythe world’smostrecognisableChampagne brand, havingacquiredFreddieMercury’sattention
inthe lyricsof “KillerQueen”andnow looking at Roger Federer as their brand ambassador, Moët &
Chandon has seen phenomenal growth in recent years. They have been determined to break into
the Chinese and Indian markets, traditionally uninterested in Champagne, with a great deal of
success. This has usually been a good sign for the Champagne region as a whole, as when Moët &
Chandon break into a market, there is always room for other wineries to follow in their wake.
Sitting in the north eastern corner of France, the Champagne region has served for hundreds of
yearsas a majorgateway forthose travelingfromFrance intoEurope andvice-versa.Because of this,
the regionhasseenmanytravellers throughoutitstime, with a number of religious denominations
foundingmonasteries,cloistersand abbeysinthe region.Much more significantly, this position has
meantthat the champagne regionhasbeen an extremely important strategic location. A surprising
numberof importantbattleshave beenfoughthere andmanyof themhave been particularly bitter
and bloody.Châlons-en-Champagne,the region’s capital, was the site of a decisive battle between
the Roman LegionsandAttilathe Hun’sinvadingarmies,consideredbymanyhistoriansto be one of
the most violent battles of all time. The region has been razed and ravaged by both French and
invadingforcessince then,seeingfightinginthe Hundred Years War, the War of Religion, the Thirty
yearswar and the Fronde Civil War.More recently,Champagne wasexposedtoyetmore violence in
both World War I and World War II, both of which resulted in widespread destruction throughout
the region once more. This is certainly bloodied ground, and between this and the bitterly cold
climate, it really is a wonder how any wine culture has ever found root in such a hostile place.
Perhaps it was all this hostility which helped fuel the infamous Champagne/Burgundy rivalry. The
rivalrystretches back quite a while, both regions competing to supply the Parisian market, but the
situations most dramatic moment occurred during the late seventeenth/early eighteenth century
duringthe reignof LouisXIV.The KinghaddecidedthatChampagne’swine was the only wine fit for
his table, a decision which was supported by his Royal Physician, Antoine d’Aquin, who claimed it
was beneficial for his health. However, as the King aged and his health began to deteriorate, he
started to question the legitimacy of these claims and, sensing an opportunity to acquire status,
armies of self-proclaimed health professionals emerged from the woodwork and began
recommending other wines for the benefit of the Kings declining health.
Among them was Guy-Crescent Fagon, at the time the Royal Gardener, who conspired with the
king’s mistress to have d’Aquin removed as Royal Physician and himself installed instead. After a
successful coup, Fagon’s first act was to remove all traces of Champagne’s wine and instead
recommend the wines of Burgundy for the benefit of the king’s health. The consequences of this
simple action reverberated all around the region, magnifying as they did so. The more innocent of
these consequenceswasthe creationof vastquantities of propaganda about the health benefits of
one wine and the detrimental effects of the other and puerile squabbling acted out in papers,
newsletters,universitylectures and in Court. Much more seriously, at the peak of this rivalry there
was the very real threat of civil war breaking out between the two regions.
Moët & Chandon wasestablishedin1743 by noblemanClaude Moëtandgrew steadilyoverthe next
fewyears,mostimportantlyacquiringthe famedAbbeyof Hautvillers where Benedictine monkDom
Pérrignon did his most important work, in 1750. There is a popular myth that Dom Pérrignon was
responsible fordevelopingthe methodof secondaryfermentationinbottle,the processresponsible

2. for Champagne’s bubbles, but this is not actually true. Despite not being responsible for this
particular innovation, Dom Pérignon’s contributions are in truth much broader and arguably more
important. They include using cork instead of wood to stop wine, providing a better seal and
allowingthe wine toage muchlonger,developingamethodof low pressure pressingtoextract clear
white juice from red wine grapes, bottling Champagne in much thicker glass to help withstand the
pressure inside andperhapsmostimportantly,he wasthe firstto use a blend of wines and vintages
ina single bottle, trying to balance the elements of one with another to create a single, consistent
flavour. It is something of an incongruity that Dom Pérignon’s modern Champagne, a subsidiary
brand of Moët, only sells vintage champagne given the man’s own history.
Despite this slow consistent growth, it was not until 1804 that the house was to truly begin to
acquire itscurrentstatus, whenavisitfromNapoleonBonaparte resulted in his opening an account
withthe Champagne house. Napoleon’srecommendation carriedended up carrying a lot of weight,
and looking through their client portfolio from the following years is like looking at a list of world
historical figures,among thempeoplelikeTsarAlexandarI, Queen Victoria, the Duke of Wellington
and EmperorFrancisthe Second. Most of these characterswere actuallyrivalsof Napoleon.Afterhis
defeat, Russian, English and Prussian forces entered France through Champagne and plundered
many of the houses cellars, and found the wine irresistible.
In a similarmannerto Guinness here in Ireland, this surge in popularity was accompanied by some
remarkably progressive workingconditionsforthe house’sstaff. Guinness used their growth during
late eighteen hundreds to offer their workers unparalleled working conditions at the time,
eventually even causing the company some financial problems in the early twentieth century.
Moët’slarge staff of twothousand people, consisting of growers, coopers, carpenters, stable staff,
firemen,corkcuttersand cellarmen,amongmanyothers, were all entitledtofree legal aid,sickpay,
a pension, housing assistance, maternity assistance and free medical aid. Remarkably generous
benefits, given the time period and the prevailing attitude to those of a lower social order.
Sitting on 1150 hectares of estate vineyards; supplying 9% of the total Champagne market; twenty
eight million bottles sold every year; one hundred and twenty million bottles cellared –
contemplating the scale of Moët & Chandon is inevitably mind boggling. Based in Épernay in the
heartof Champagne,thismassive operation can produce thousands various vintages of wine, each
of which are a potential ingredient in one of their blends.
The Champagne region’s climate is notoriously inconsistent, meaning that the grapes grown here
alsoinheritthisinconsistency.Because of this,itisrare for champagne tohave a vintage andismuch
more likely to be based on a blend of wines from previous years, all informed by the house’s
traditional style of champagne. In Moët & Chandon’s case their most important wine is their Brut
Impérial NV, named in honour of their first major patron, Napoleon, which sells a staggering 21
millionbottlesannuallyandaccountsfor7% of all of Champagne’sproduction.Thisscale meansthat
a single blendforeachyeariscompletelyunachievableandinsteadthe house must produce at least
fourdifferentblendsof wine eachyeartobe marketed and sold under their Brut Impérial NV label.
Traditionallyafresh,fruitdrivenstyle,Brut Impérial NV has paradoxically grown in consistency and
qualityasthe quantityhasincreased. Thatthishas occurredis certainlyapointinthe house’sfavour.

3. Details:
 9% of global champagne production.
 28 million bottles sold annually.
 Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial NV,at21 millionbottles, accounts for 7% of the Champagne
region’s output.
 New Mont Aigu winery in Épernay is dedicated to Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial NV,
doubling their potential output of the wine for 2017.
 120 million bottles cellared.
 Peakproductioncapacityis 60 million bottles annually, set to grow by 21 million bottles by
2017.
 Brands include Dom Pérignon, Veuve Clicquot, Mercier, Ruinart and Krug.
 Between the parent company and its brands, they account for 20% of all champagne sales.
 Vineyards occupy 1150 hectares.
 Regularly purchases grapes from over 3000 growers, spanning 230 of champagne’s 319
villages.
 Capable of supplying the largest export market in the world, the UK, completely unaided.
 Expecting record champagne sales in 2014.