Moët & Chandon Champagne Brut Impérial Étui

Under the leadership of its brilliant cellar master, Benoît Gouez, Moët has evolved without compromising its core values: fruitiness, balance, just the right level of approachability, and a captivating aging potential, all within a fresh style that strives for precision. The cuvées have moved away from dosage, in step with advances in viticulture and cutting-edge technical research. The wines reveal an extra dimension. The house’s flagship wines, Imperial and Rosé Imperial, are champagnes of impressive aromatic precision and finesse. The blends are meticulously crafted. The vintages display a distinctive stylistic signature, as exemplified by the latest 2013, an atypical yet remarkably successful vintage. The “grande maison” is in fine form.

Nearly 280 crus go into the house’s signature cuvée. Made from the three Champagne grape varieties, this brut highlights the red varieties (60 to 80 percent, with Pinot Noir and Meunier in roughly equal proportions) and includes 20 to 30 percent reserve wines. Its strengths lie in the finesse of its nose, with notes of white fruit, and its harmony on the palate, characterized by intensity, complexity (brioche, yellow fruit, spices…), and lovely tension. This liveliness carries the finish far, with hints of noble bitterness and citrus accents.

One of the oldest Champagne houses, founded in 1743 by Claude Moët, a vineyard owner. In the early 19th century, his grandson Jean-Rémy expanded the company’s reach internationally, with the help of his son-in-law Pierre-Gabriel Chandon de Briailles. Their heirs built on the brand’s success, making it the best-known and best-selling Champagne in the world. Today, Moët & Chandon—with 1,190 hectares of vineyards across 234 crus (50% of which are grand cru) and 28 kilometers of cellars—continues to expand as part of the powerful LVMH group. These ambitions came to fruition in 2012 with the inauguration, at the Mont Aigu site in Oiry at the foot of the Côte des Blancs, of a vast, contemporary-style winemaking facility, which complements its historic facilities in Épernay. Benoît Gouez has served as cellar master since 2005.

LVMH is the most powerful player in the Champagne region, thanks to the size of its vineyards (approximately 1,200 hectares—just a quarter of its needs!) and the reach of its brands (Moët, Veuve Clicquot, Ruinart, Krug, Mercier). Within this portfolio, Moët is the world’s best-selling champagne, with the Brut Impérial as its flagship, accounting for 85% of its production. Under the guidance of the excellent cellar master Benoît Gouez, Moët demonstrates impressive consistency given the volumes produced. These creamy wines, with their toasty and citrusy notes, appeal to consumers wherever they are in the world. Alongside the Brut Impérial, the house produces Grand Vintages that gain in definition and depth with each successive vintage.