5 Famous Champagne Brands And The Stories Behind Them

Last updated on May 28th, 2024 at 07:33 am

Discover the history behind five of the most popular champagne brands in France.

Who doesn’t love a glass of bubbly, especially when you’re in France, the country that is responsible for so many famous champagne brands?

Having been to a lot of the champagne houses, both the well-known names and the smaller family-run vineyards, it’s the story behind each one that fascinates me.

Every bottle holds years of history, tradition, innovation, and the extraordinary endeavour of those who have devoted their lives to the champagne-making craft. 

So, join me as I pull the cork out of some of the world’s most famous champagne brands. 

We’ll uncover the tales, the scandals, the passion, and persistence that have gone into creating these iconic labels, stories as sparkling as the champagne itself. 

Listen to the Podcast Episode for this article

In victory, you deserve Champagne. In defeat you need it.

Napoleon Bonaparte.

I couldn’t have put it better than Napoleon Bonaparte, who loved his champagne. It’s not just about the celebration, it’s about the journey, the art, and the love that brought it into existence.

The Stories of 5 Famous Champagne Brands

Did you know it was the Marquise de Pompadour, the mistress of King Louis XV, who put champagne on the map?

She famously declared that “Champagne is the only wine that leaves a woman beautiful after drinking,” thereby making it the drink of choice at the royal court and subsequently, throughout Europe.

No 1 Moët & Chandon

Who hasn’t heard of Moet & Chandon? It’s one of the biggest champagne houses in France with a heritage spanning nearly 280 years, it’s a name synonymous with prestige in the champagne world.

Its story goes back to 1743 when Claude Moët, a wine trader, founded the house in Épernay, France. Claude was what, in today’s world, we would call a visionary. 

He recognised the potential of the wine from his region to captivate the nobility across Europe. He understood that the royal courts were always looking for something new and extravagant. 

It was his grandson, Jean-Remy Moët, who elevated the brand to international stature. He was a master at networking, rubbing shoulders with influential figures of the time, including none other than Napoleon Bonaparte himself. 

Napoleon visited the estate many times and bestowed the award of Légion d’honneur on Moët Imperial and that’s how it got its name.

He is also credited with being the one to invent the opening and spraying of champagne bottles upon a victory. 

Fast forward to the 19th century, and Moët & Chandon introduced the vintage champagne. In the past, champagne was a blend of harvests from different years to ensure a consistent taste. However, the introduction of vintage champagne meant it was produced from a single exceptional harvest. 

Today, Moët and Chandon own more than 1000 hectares of vineyards and produce around 28 million bottles of champagne each year. Their cellars span more than 28 kilometres beneath the streets of Épernay.

If you take into account its founding year, some bottles stored down there are older than the United States of America! It’s quite a thought when you’re sipping from your glass, isn’t it? 

Enjoy a private tour of Moet et Chandon and the Pommery Cellars. Get picked up from your hotel in Paris in a Mercedes and indulge in 8 tastings and take in the sights of the Champagne region as you are chauffeured around.

No 2 Veuve Cliquot

As the first champagne I ever tasted, I was fascinated to find out more about the history of the Veuve Clicquot Estate. And I wasn’t disappointed as Madame Clicquot was a formidable woman for her time, who really helped catapult the champagne house to fame.

The house was founded in 1772 by Philippe Clicquot, a banker and textile merchant, who saw the potential in the burgeoning champagne trade.

He established a wine business under the family name, which was initially focused on still wines.

The turning point for the house came in 1805 when Philippe’s son, François Clicquot, passed away, leaving his widow, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, in charge.

Madame Clicquot, later known as “La Grande Dame de la Champagne,” was just 27 years old when she took over the estate, becoming one of the first women to run a champagne house. 

She was a true innovator and a savvy businesswoman. In 1810, she produced the first recorded vintage champagne in the region, setting a new standard for quality and distinction in the process. 

Her role as a pioneer in the industry was further solidified by her bold decision in 1814 to ship over 10,500 bottles of her 1811 vintage champagne to Saint Petersburg. 

This move was made despite the Napoleonic Wars, which had disrupted trade routes. Her champagne was received with enthusiasm by the Russian Imperial Court, and it quickly became the preferred drink of the Tsar. 

This daring venture not only established Veuve Clicquot’s reputation in Russia but also marked the beginning of the brand’s international expansion.

But it doesn’t stop there, Madame Clicquot’s contributions to the champagne industry were not limited to her business acumen. She also revolutionised the production process. 

In 1816, she invented the first riddling table, allowing for the clearer and more consistent champagne that we know today.

This process involved the gradual tilting of the bottle to encourage yeast sediments to settle near the cork, which could then be removed, resulting in a clearer champagne. 

This technique was a significant improvement over the previous methods and is still used in champagne production today.

For the ultimate champagne experience, the Private Vintage Champagne Tour of Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot picks you up from your hotel in Paris. It’s a VIP tour with tastings for just you and your chosen group.

No 3 Vranken-Pommery

In the heart of the Champagne region is Vranken-Pommery, started by Narcisse Greno and Louis Alexandre Pommery, who founded Pommery & Greno in 1858. Originally a wool trading business, it was transformed into a Champagne house by Madame Pommery, after the untimely death of her husband, Alexandre Pommery in 1858.

It was unchartered territory, particularly for a woman in the 19th century, but she had the passion and tenacity needed to make it a success. And she created the first successful brut champagne in 1874.

Madame Pommery was a pioneer not just in the world of champagne, but also in the provisions she made for her employees. She established a school for employees’ children and provided healthcare facilities, well before this sort of thing was common practice.

The creation of Vranken-Pommery Monopole occurred in the year 1979, thanks to Paul-François Vranken, a Belgian entrepreneur with a vision. He bought Pommery in 2002 creating one of the largest champagne producers worldwide. 

The cellars stretch for 18km and date back to the Gallo-Roman period. As you go 30 metres underground and walk through the cellars, you’ll also see the crayères (chalk pits) listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Since 2002, the estate has invited artists to showcase their work underground in the Gallo-Roman chalk pits, bringing something completely different to the whole experience.

The Villa Demoiselle, part of the estate, and built at the beginning of the 20th century by architect Louis Sorel, was abandoned until the 20th century. It has now been restored to its former glory in an Art Deco style with numerous works of art and beautifully decorated rooms filled with original furniture.

No 4 Taittinger

Taittinger Champagne goes back to the Middle Ages in Reims starting with the Comtes de Champagne one of the most powerful families in France, apart from the King, of course. 

They were responsible for turning the small church, now the HQ for Taittinger, into the Abbey of Saint-Nicaise. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in the French Revolution, but the remains of the Abbey can still be seen as they now form part of the cellars.

Imagine if those walls could talk, the stories they could tell. But it doesn’t stop there. The Abbey had a network of underground chalk tunnels that allowed the Benedictine monks to quickly and easily move around the different areas of the Abbey, as well as the city.

These tunnels still exist and are UNESCO listed with their conditions being perfect for the slow ageing process required to make champagne. You can still see one of the big gates that originally led into the monastery gardens.

But it wasn’t till 1734 that the first champagne house, founded by Jacques Fourneaux, was created. Then in 1931, it was purchased by Pierre Taittinger, making it one of the only champagne houses left that is still managed by the family whose name is on the label. 

Pierre fell in love with the region when he was stationed at Château de la Marquetterie during the First World War and today it is managed by his two grandchildren Vitalie and Clovis. 

The cellars were used during the war to shelter the residents of the city of Reims from the heavy bombing that occurred and you can still see a lot of the graffiti from that time on the walls.

But for me, it’s his son, François Taittinger, who I find interesting who was arrested by the Nazis for insolence. You see the Champagne region was occupied by the Germans in WW2, and they made huge demands on the Champagne houses ordering them to supply 400,000 a week to Germany.

Well, as you can imagine, that didn’t go down too well with the wine growers, so they bandied together forming the Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne. And this group stood up to the Nazis. They weren’t going to be bullied so they sent their worst champagne to Germany, sticking the wrong labels so it looked as though they were getting the good stuff.

They hid their best champagne behind secret walls in their cellars slapping on labels that indicated them to be a bad batch, just in case they were found.

This ‘champagne duping‘ got to such a point that François Taittinger fell foul of Otto Klaebisch, the Nazi appointed to oversee the Champagne region. He apparently screamed at François, “How dare you send us fizzy dishwater,” to which Taittinger simply replied,  “Who cares? It’s not as if it’s going to be drunk by anyone who knows anything about Champagne.”

He promptly got sent to prison for being rude, although was released after a week or so. But the house of Taittiner hid many of the resistance members and Jews in its tunnels to actively work against the Germans.

No 5 Bollinger

The story starts with Athanase-Louis-Emmanuel de Villermont in 1763, an aristocrat born in the small town of Aÿ in the champagne region. His family owned vast estates in the area, which he inherited, and he soon saw the potential for making great wine, however, as a member of the aristocracy he was forbidden to be a part of any commercial activity.

Enter Paul Renaudin, a wine lover who worked for Müller Ruinart and was friends with Joseph Bollinger, the son of German nobility who had made France his home. On 6 February 1829, the three men formed a company together in order to buy and sell champagne wine. They set up shop at 16 rue de l’Huilerie in Aÿ, the family home of Athanase.

The business stayed in the Bollinger family and was eventually taken over by Jacques, grandson of one of the original co-owners who took over at the tender age of 24 after his father died just before the end of WW1. He had his work cut out for him navigating the business through the first few years of the Second World War.

Unfortunately, he also died during wartime leaving his wife, whom he’d married in 1923, to take over the business, and take it over she did. Elisabeth Law de Lauriston-Boubers, known as Lily, found herself a childless widow at the age of 42, with the war still going strong and the region of Champagne occupied by the Germans.

But she was an impressive woman and not one to be thwarted. Just as François Taittinger had dealt with Otto Klaebisch, (the weinfuhrer) Lily too had her own unique way of dealing with him. 

When he paid her a visit knowing he was overweight and a very large man she gave him a chair that was far too small for him. This meant he had to stand for his entire visit so never bothered coming back. Oh, the cunning of a woman.
Unfortunately, on August 11 1944, the town of Aÿ was heavily bombed and a lot of it destroyed. To help the villagers stay safe Lily opened the doors of her cellars for them to stay whilst they waited for the bombing to finish. 

She couldn’t save everyone so she took it upon herself to personally arrange the funerals of the bombing victims, which won her even more respect in the village.
She could be seen regularly cycling through the vines on her old push bike inspecting her vineyards.

She also travelled extensively to promote her champagne and had a wonderful relationship with the English crown receiving two awards, one from George VI and another from Elizabeth II. All this promotion earned her the nickname ‘The First Lady of France’.

To really appreciate the Champagne region in Epernay, and to see Dom Pérignon’s legacy the Private Gold Experience Tour of Epernay is a full-day tour with lunch included, tastings of 6 Champagne Grand Cru/Premier Cru and completely tailored to your group.

FAQS: Top Champagne Brands

Final thoughts: Good Champagne Brands

So if you’re going to be staying in the champagne region you now know some of the stories behind five of the biggest names in the business.

The best way to immerse yourself in the world of champagne is to take a tour as your guides will tell you the secrets behind each one, things you won’t find on Google.

They’ll also give you top tips on how to taste champagne and what to look for in each glass.