The listing below comprises some of the more prominent houses of Champagne. Most of the major houses are members of the organisation Union de Maisons de Champagne (UMC), [1] and are sometimes referred to as Grandes Marques. [2]
The listing below comprises some of the more prominent houses of Champagne. Most of the major houses are members of the organisation Union de Maisons de Champagne (UMC), [1] and are sometimes referred to as Grandes Marques. [2]
| House | Year of foundation | Location | Cuvée | Company |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abelé | 1757 | Reims | Sourire de Reims | Freixenet |
| Ayala | 1860 | Aÿ | Grande Cuvée (Vintage) | Société Jacques Bollinger [3] |
| Billecart-Salmon | 1818 | Mareuil-sur-Aÿ | Brut Réserve Clos St Hilare | Independent |
| Binet | 1849 | Reims | Brut Elite Elite Rosé (Rosé de saignée) Elite Blanc de Noirs Médaillon Rouge (Vintage) | Independent |
| Boizel | 1834 | Épernay | Joyau de France (Vintage) | Lanson-BCC |
| Bollinger | 1829 | Aÿ | Vieilles Vignes Françaises (Vintage) R.D. (Récemment Dégorgé) (Vintage) | Société Jacques Bollinger |
| Bruno Paillard | 1981 | Reims | Nec Plus Ultra (Vintage) brut première cuvée (Vintage) | Independent |
| Burtin - Besserat de Bellefon | 1843 | Épernay | Cuvée des Moines | Lanson-BCC |
| Canard-Duchêne | 1868 | Ludes | Grande Cuvée Charles VII | Groupe Thiénot |
| Cattier | 1918 | Chigny-les-Roses | Clos du Moulin | Independent |
| Chanoine Frères | 1730 | Reims | Gamme Tsarine | Lanson-BCC |
| Charles Heidsieck | 1851 | Reims | Blanc des Millénaires (Vintage) | EPI |
| De Castellane | 1895 | Épernay | Commodore (Vintage) | Laurent Perrier |
| De Cazanove | 1811 | Reims | Stradivarius | Groupe Rapeneau |
| De Venoge | 1837 | Épernay | Grand Vin des Princes (Vintage) | Lanson-BCC |
| Delamotte | 1760 | Le Mesnil-sur-Oger | Laurent-Perrier | |
| Deutz | 1838 | Aÿ | Amour de Deutz (Vintage) | Louis Roederer Group |
| Duval-Leroy | 1859 | Vertus | Femme de Champagne (above average years only) Fleur de Champagne (above average years only) | Family-owned |
| Gosset | 1584 | Épernay | Celebris (Vintage) Grand Millésime (Vintage) | Renaud-Cointreau |
| Heidsieck & Co Monopole | 1785 | Épernay | Diamant Bleu (Vintage) | Vranken-Pommery Monopole |
| Henriot | 1808 | Reims | Cuvée des Enchanteleurs (Vintage) Brut Souverain | Independent |
| Jacquesson | 1798 | Dizy | Avize Grand Cru (Vintage) | Independent |
| Krug | 1843 | Reims | Krug (Vintage) Clos du Mesnil (above average years only) | LVMH |
| Lanson | 1760 | Reims | Noble Cuvée (Vintage) | Lanson-BCC |
| Laurent-Perrier | 1812 | Tours-sur-Marne | Grand Siècle | Laurent Perrier |
| Mercier | 1858 | Épernay | Vendange (Vintage) | LVMH |
| Moët & Chandon | 1743 | Épernay | Dom Pérignon (Vintage) | LVMH |
| Mumm | 1827 | Reims | Mumm de Cramant | Pernod Ricard |
| Pannier | 1899 | Château-Thierry | Covama | |
| Perrier-Jouët | 1811 | Épernay | Belle Époque (Vintage) | Pernod Ricard |
| Francis Pétret | 1960 | Chouilly | ||
| Piper-Heidsieck | 1785 | Reims | Rare | EPI |
| Pol Roger | 1849 | Épernay | Sir Winston Churchill (Vintage) | Independent |
| Pommery | 1836 | Reims | Cuvée Louise (Vintage) | Vranken-Pommery Monopole |
| Louis Roederer | 1776 | Reims | Cristal (Vintage) | Louis Roederer Group |
| Ruinart | 1729 | Reims | Dom Ruinart (Vintage) Ruinart blanc de blancs (Vintage) | LVMH |
| Salon | 1921 | Le Mesnil-sur-Oger | Champagne Salon (Vintage) | Laurent-Perrier |
| Taittinger | 1734 | Reims | Comtes de Champagne (Vintage) | Taittinger |
| Thiénot | 1985 | Reims | Cuvée Alain Thiénot (Vintage) Cuvée Stanislas (Vintage) Cuvée Garance (Vintage) La vigne aux Gamins (Vintage) | Groupe Thiénot |
| Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin | 1772 | Reims | La Grande Dame (Vintage) Carte jaune (Vintage) Clicquot Rich Reserve (Vintage) | LVMH |
| House | Year of foundation | Place of origin | Cuvée de prestige (Premium label) Vintage where indicated | Parent group |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delbeck | 1832 | Reims | ||
| Drappier | 1808 | Urville | Grande Sendrée (Vintage) | Family-owned |
| Gauthier | 1858 | Épernay | Grande Réserve Brut | Lanson-BCC |
| Nicolas Feuillatte | 1972 | Chouilly | Palmes d'Or | Co-operative |
| Selosse | 1960 | Avize | Independent | |
| Paul Goerg | 1950 | Vertus | Cuvée Lady C. (Vintage) | |
| Vilmart | 1872 | Rilly-la-Montagne | Coeur de Cuvée (Vintage) | Independent |
Champagne is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, specific grape-pressing methods and secondary fermentation of the wine in the bottle to cause carbonation.
The wine region within the historical province of Champagne in the northeast of France is best known for the production of champagne, the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name. EU law and the laws of most countries reserve the term "champagne" exclusively for wines that come from this region located about 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of Paris. The viticultural boundaries of Champagne are legally defined and split into five wine-producing districts within the historical province: Aube, Côte des Blancs, Côte de Sézanne, Montagne de Reims, and Vallée de la Marne. The city of Reims and the town of Épernay are the commercial centers of the area. Reims is famous for its cathedral, the venue of the coronation of the French kings and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne region of France. Sparkling wine is usually either white or rosé, but there are examples of red sparkling wines such as the Italian Brachetto, Bonarda and Lambrusco, and the Australian sparkling Shiraz. The sweetness of sparkling wine can range from very dry brut styles to sweeter doux varieties.
Louis Roederer is a producer of champagne based in Reims, France. Founded in 1776, the business was inherited and renamed by Louis Roederer in 1833. It remains as one of the few independent and family-run maisons de champagne. Over 3.5 million bottles of Louis Roederer champagne are shipped each year to more than 100 countries.
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin is a Champagne house founded in 1772 and based in Reims. It is one of the largest Champagne houses. Madame Clicquot is credited with major breakthroughs, creating the first known vintage champagne in 1810, and inventing the riddling table process to clarify champagne in 1816. In 1818, she invented the first known blended rosé champagne by blending still red and white wines, a process still used by the majority of champagne producers.
Bollinger is a French Champagne house, a producer of sparkling wines from the Champagne region. They produce several labels of Champagne under the Bollinger name, including the vintage Vieilles Vignes Françaises, Grande Année and R.D. as well as the non-vintage Special Cuvée. Founded in 1829 in Aÿ by Hennequin de Villermont, Paul Renaudin and Jacques Bollinger, the house continues to be run by members of the Bollinger family. In Britain, Bollinger Champagnes are affectionately known as "Bolly".
The traditional method is the process used in the Champagne region of France to produce Champagne. It is also the method used in various French regions to produce sparkling wines, in Spain to produce Cava, in Portugal to produce Espumante and in Italy to produce Franciacorta. The method is known as the méthode champenoise, but the Champagne producers have successfully lobbied the European Union to restrict the use of that term within the EU only to wines produced in Champagne. Thus, wines from elsewhere cannot use the term "méthode champenoise" on products sold in the EU, and instead the term "traditional method" or the local language equivalent. South African wines from the Western Cape are labelled with the term Methode Cap Classique. Some wine producers in countries outside the EU may disregard EU labeling laws and use méthode champenoise or even “Champagne” on labels for products not exported to the EU, but this usage is decreasing.
G. H. Mumm & Cie is a Champagne house founded in 1827 and based in Reims, France. G.H. Mumm is one of the largest Champagne houses and is currently ranked 4th globally based on number of bottles sold. The company is owned by Pernod Ricard.
Ruinart is the oldest established Champagne house, exclusively producing champagne since 1729. Founded by Nicolas Ruinart in the Champagne region in the city of Reims, the house is today owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA.
Château La Lagune is a winery in the Haut-Médoc appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. The wine produced here was classified as one of fourteen Troisièmes Crus in the historic Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855.
Champagne Delamotte is a small producer of Champagne. Along with its "sister" winery Champagne Salon, Delamotte is the historical House of the Laurent-Perrier group.
Avize is a commune in the Marne department in northeastern France.
Arbane is a white French wine grape variety that has been historically grown in the Aube region of Champagne, but has now all but disappeared from the vineyards with less than 1 hectare left in France in 2006. Despite its rarity, it is still permitted grape variety to be blended with Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier and other varieties in the Champagne cuvée.
Deutz, formerly known as Deutz & Geldermann, is a Champagne producer based in the Aÿ region of Champagne. The house was founded in 1838 by William Deutz and Pierre-Hubert Geldermann and has since been run by successive generations of the Deutz and Geldermann families.
Charles Heidsieck is the smallest of the Grandes Marques champagne Houses. Based in the Reims region of Champagne, it is one of the best-known producers for both vintage and non-vintage cuvée. It has been part of EPI group since 2011. The house was founded in 1851 by the French champagne maker Charles Camille Heidsieck, who became known as Champagne Charlie.
Mercier is a Champagne producer based in the Épernay region of Champagne. The house, founded in 1858 by Eugène Mercier, produces both vintage and non-vintage cuvée, which is stored in 18 km (11 mi) long cellar tunnels located 30 m (98 ft) underground. Parts of the cellar are open to the public, where visitors can use rail carts to navigate the tunnels. Today, the house owns 576 ha of vinyards. Mercier owned the original rights to the name Dom Pérignon but gave the brand to Moët et Chandon in 1927. Today the house is under the umbrella of the LVMH group and is the number one selling brand of Champagne in the domestic French market.
The history of Champagne began when the Romans planted vineyards in this region of northeast France in the 5th century, or possibly earlier. Over centuries, Champagne evolved from being a pale, pinkish still wine to a sparkling wine. When Hugh Capet was crowned King of France in 987 at the cathedral of Reims, he started a tradition that brought successive monarchs to the region—with the local wine being on prominent display at the coronation banquets. The early wine of the Champagne region was a pale, pinkish wine made from Pinot noir.
Patrick de Suarez d'Aulan ) is an aristocrat, winemaker, and businessman.
Boll & Cie is a Champagne house based in Reims, a producer of sparkling wines from the Champagne region of France, founded in 1853. With the exception of the Brut Rose, all Champagnes from Boll & Cie are blanc de blancs. Boll & Cie specializes in Brut Champagne, including a Grand Cru from the village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.
Ghislain de Montgolfier is a French winemaker, and the former head of the Bollinger Champagne house, and the sixth generation to run the family business.
