Did you know that the Marquis de Pompadour, the mistress of King Louis XV was an influencer in her time making Moët & Chandon the preferred wine of choice?
Have you wondered just how many bottles of Champagne are in the Champagne region? Over 300 million bottles are produced on a yearly basis, with 250 kilometers (155) miles of bottles. Moët has 28 kilometers of cellars!
Did you also know that Moët Imperial owes its name to Napoleon? He awarded Jean-Remy Moët, grandson of founder Claude Moët, the medal L’egion d’honneur.
Moët got started in 1743 and is now co-owner of the luxury goods company LVMH. Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE is one of the largest champagne producers. Moët is also known for creating the great Dom Perignon label. Dom Pérignon was a Benedictine monk that was a pioneer of champagne making. He was known for blending grapes to create balance, and enhance the ability for Champagne to keep their natural sugar that helps with the secondary fermentation in the process. Until 1943, Dom Pérignon was produced from the Moët & Chandon Champagne.
You’ll hear all of these interesting tidbits of trivia when you take the Moët & Chandon tour in Épernay. What I enjoyed about this tour, was hearing about the history, heading down to the wine caves, and enjoying a glass of this special beverage.
The tour starts at ground level where you hear about the history and the process of champagne making. You’ll then descend down to the cellars which are located under the Avenue de Champagne in Épernay. It’s the largest network of underground wine cellars in Champagne. These cool and humid tunnels help to provide the best environment for fermentation. I was grateful for our tour guide in the cellars as you could easily get lost as it goes on forever, and it all looks the same. Each area of champagne is marked to identify where it is in the process.
Once you’ve been down to the cellars you’ll come back up to ground level and have a celebratory glass of champagne.
You can take the train from Paris to Reims and it’s about a 45 minute trip. There are tours that also include other champagne houses, and Moët and Chandon also offers a tour.
