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<< previous...Early Records of the Moët Family at Reims and Epernay—Jean Remi Moët Founder of the Commerce in Champagne Wines—Extracts from the Old Account-Books of the Moëts—First Sales of Sparkling Wines—Sales to England in 1788—“Milords” Farnham and Findlater—Jean Remi Moët receives the Emperor Napoleon, Josephine, and the King of Westphalia—The Firm of Moët and Chandon Constituted—Their Establishment in the Rue du Commerce—Delivering and Washing the New Bottles—The Numerous Vineyards and Vendangeoirs of the Firm—Making the Cuvée in Vats of 12,000 Gallons—The Bottling of the Wine by 200 Hands—A Hundred Thousand Bottles Completed Daily—20,000 Francs’ worth of Broken Glass in Two Years—A Subterranean City, with miles of Streets, Cross Roads, Open Spaces, Tramways, and Stations—The Ancient Entrance to these Vaults—Tablet Commemorative of the Visit of Napoleon I.—Millions of Bottles of Champagne in Piles and Racks—The Original Vaults known as Siberia—Scene in the Packing Hall—Messrs. Moët and Chandon’s Large and Complete Staff—Provision for Illness and Old Age—Annual Fête Given by the Firm—Their Famous “Star” Brand—M. Perrier-Jouët, the lucky Grandson of a little Epernay Grocer—His Offices and Cellars—His Wine Classed according to its Deserts—Messrs. Roussillon and Co.’s Establishment—The Recognition accorded to their Wines— Their Stock of Old Vintages—The Extensive Establishment of Messrs. Pol Roger and Co.—Their Large Stock of the Fine 1874 Vintage—Preparations for the Tirage—Their Vast Fireproof Cellier and its Admirable Temperature—Their Lofty and Capacious Cellars of Two Stories.

Those magnates of the champagne trade, Messrs. Moët and Chandon, whose famous “star” brand is familiar in every part of the civilised globe, and whose half-score miles of cellars contain as many million bottles of champagne as there are millions of inhabitants in most of the secondary European states, have their head-quarters at Epernay in a spacious château—in that street of châteaux named the Rue du Commerce, but commonly known as the Faubourg de la Folie—which is approached through handsome iron gates, and has beautiful gardens in the rear extending in the direction of the River Marne. The existing firm dates from the year 1833, but the family of Moët—conjectured to have originally come from the Low Countries—had already been associated with the champagne wine trade for well-nigh a century previously. If the Moëts came from Holland they must have established themselves in the Champagne at a very early date, for the annals of Reims record that in the fifteenth century Jean and Nicolas Moët were échevins of the city. A Moët was present in that capacity at the coronation of Charles VII. in 1429, when Joan of Arc stood erect by the principal altar of the cathedral with her sacred banner in her hand, and for having contributed to repulse an attempt on the part of the English to prevent the entrance of the Royal party into the city, the Moëts were subsequently ennobled by the same monarch. A mural tablet in the church of St. Remi records the death of D. G. Moët, Grand Prior, in 1554, and nine years later we find Nicol Moët claiming exemption at Epernay from the payment of tailles on the ground of his being a noble. An old commercial book preserved in the family archives shows that in the year 1743—at the epoch when the rashness of the Duc de Grammont saved the English army under George II. from being cut to pieces at Dettingen—a descendant of the foregoing, one Claude Louis Nicolas Moët, who owned considerable vineyard property in the vicinity of Epernay, decided upon embarking in the wine trade. It is his son, however, Jean Remi Moët, born in 1758, who may be looked upon as the veritable founder of the present commerce in Champagne wines, which, thanks to his efforts, received a wonderful impulse, so that instead of the consumption of the vintages of the Marne being limited as heretofore to the privileged few, it spread all over the civilised world.... next >>