Wine List
Grand Tasting : NV Collection Impériale Création No.1, NV Brut Impérial, 2016 Grand Vintage, 2016 Grand Vintage Rosé
Gala Dinner : 2009 Grand Vintage Collection, 2000 Grand Vintage Collection
Vineyard & History
Moët & Chandon’s history is deeply rooted in the land of Champagne, a region defined by its unique terroir and centuries of savoir-faire. The House today owns the largest single vineyard estate in the appellation, covering around 1,180 hectares – nearly 5% of the entire Champagne vineyard area. This extraordinary scale provides Moët & Chandon with an unparalleled range of terroirs and grape varieties, ensuring both consistency and creative freedom in blending.
What truly sets Moët & Chandon apart is not only the scale of its vineyards, but the unrivaled diversity they encompass. With 1,180 hectares spread across 15 of the 17 Grands Crus villages and 25 of the 44 Premiers Crus in Champagne, the Maison draws from an extraordinary patchwork of terroirs. This breadth gives its cellar master access to over 200 different base wines each harvest, a palette of styles unmatched by any other House. Such diversity enables Moët & Chandon to craft blends of remarkable precision, consistency, and creativity, ensuring both the instantly recognizable character of Moët Impérial and the singular expression of its Grand Vintages.
The estate is planted across the most highly regarded crus of the region: about 50% Grands Crus and 25% Premiers Crus, designations historically reserved for the finest vineyard villages. This exceptional distribution places Moët & Chandon at the very heart of Champagne’s winemaking tradition. The vineyards are planted with the 3 classic grape varieties – Pinot Noir (50%), which contributes body and structure; Meunier (30%), lending roundness and suppleness; and Chardonnay (20%), providing freshness, elegance, and longevity to the wines. Each parcel is carefully matched to its grape variety according to soil, exposure, and microclimate.
The Maison’s vineyard legacy began with its founder, Claude Moët, in 1743. From modest beginnings, the estate expanded considerably under the leadership of his grandson, Jean-Rémy Moët, who in the early 19th century invested strategically in vineyard land, convinced that the future prestige of the House would depend on the quality of its terroir. His acquisitions of key parcels, many today ranked among the Grands and Premiers Crus, laid the foundations of the House’s strength. Over time, successive generations carried on this vision, steadily building the most extensive and diverse vineyard holdings of any Champagne house.
This heritage is also defined by a forward-looking philosophy. Moët & Chandon has long integrated innovative viticultural methods and embraced sustainable practices. The Maison promotes biodiversity in its vineyards, applies minimum-intervention farming techniques, and carefully balances tradition with modern technology to protect the environment while ensuring grape quality. For the House, respecting nature is inseparable from respecting its wines: “At Moët & Chandon, a great champagne is defined as the interpretation of the grape,” as expressed by cellar master Benoît Gouez.
Today, nearly three centuries after its founding, Moët & Chandon’s vineyards remain the cornerstone of its identity. They reflect the Maison’s enduring ability to unite terroir, heritage, and innovation, producing champagnes that capture the richness of the Champagne landscape and carry forward the vision of its founders for generations to come.
MOËT & CHANDON CHEF DE CAVE
BENOIT GOUEZ’S BIOGRAPHY
Benoît Gouez joined Moët & Chandon in 1998 and become Chef de Cave in 2005, taking his own unique route to becoming a champagne maker. As he says, “I wasn’t brought up in the world of vintners. My career path was shaped by series of chance encounters and fortunate circumstances, and, above all, by an innate flair for this profession.” Thanks to his keen instincts, Gouez quickly grasped the Moët & Chandon spirit. “Champagne is all about sharing—it’s a rich, passion-filled world. I love to share. I love dinners with friends, good conversation, exchanging ideas and different points of view. I love to celebrate, to make every moment in life as good as it can be.”
Gouez’s enthusiasm and expertise propelled him to his current position as Chef de Cave. For Gouez, winemaking consists of a subtle mix of technique and sensitivity, knowledge and creativity.
Benoît Gouez’s unparalleled mastery of his art ensures champagne with the distinctive Moët & Chandon character. He keeps the House in tune with the times while remaining a firm believer in gentle evolution rather than jarring revolution.
Style and integrity, two of Gouez’s most marked personal qualities, are essential to his ability to bring out the best in each year’s harvest and, in his words, “to highlight and sublimate the special characteristics of the grape varieties grown in the Champagne region.” With his wonderful panache and consummate respect for the natural qualities of the fruit, this young, atypical Chef de Cave is the ideal guardian of the Moët & Chandon spirit.
Winemaking techniques, no matter how well mastered, are nothing without the intuition, finesse and sensitivity that characterize Moët & Chandon’s Chef de Cave. The firm’s history, culture and traditions are in good hands with Benoît Gouez. “The Moët & Chandon heritage is handed down from generation to generation. We are a house with deep roots in the past and eyes looking toward the future.”