THOSE magnates of the Champagne trade, Messrs. Moët & Chandon, whose famous ‘Star’ brand is familiar in every part of the civilised globe, and whose half-score miles of cellars contain as many million bottles of Champagne as there are millions of inhabitants in most of the secondary European States, have their head-quarters at Epernay in a spacious château—in that street of châteaux named the Rue du Commerce, but commonly known as the Faubourg de la Folie—which is approached through handsome iron gates, and has beautiful gardens in the rear extending in the direction of the River Marne. The existing firm dates from the year 1833, but the family of Moët—conjectured to have originally come from the Low Countries—had already been associated with the Champagne wine trade for well-nigh a century previously. If the Moëts came from Holland they must have established themselves in the Champagne at a very early date, for the annals of Reims record that in the fourteenth century Jehan Moët de Mennemont, escuier, held a fief at Attigny from the Archbishop Richard Pique, and that in the following century Jean and Nicolas Moët were échevins of the city. A Moët was present in that capacity at the coronation of Charles VII. in 1429, when Joan of Arc stood erect by the principal altar of the cathedral with her sacred banner in her hand; and for having contributed to repulse an attempt on the part of the English to prevent the entrance of the Royal party into the city, the Moëts were subsequently ennobled by the same monarch. A mural tablet in the church of St. Remi records the death of D. G. Moët, Grand Prior, in 1554; and nine years later we find Nicol Moët claiming exemption at Epernay for the payment of tailles on the ground of his being a noble.
An old commercial book preserved in the family archives shows that in the year 1743—at the epoch when the rashness of the Duc de Grammont saved the English army under George II. from being cut to pieces at Dettingen—a descendant of the foregoing, one Claude Louis Nicolas Moët, who owned considerable vineyard property in the vicinity of Epernay, decided upon embarking in the wine trade. It is his son, however, Jean Remi Moët, born in 1758, who may be looked upon as the veritable founder of the present commerce in Champagne wines, which, thanks to his efforts, received a wonderful impulse, so that instead of the consumption of the vintages of the Marne being limited as heretofore to the privileged few, it spread all over the civilised world.
JEAN REMI MOËT.
At Messrs. Moët & Chandon’s we had the opportunity of inspecting some of the old account-books of the firm, and more particularly those recording the transactions of Jean Remi Moët and his father. The first sales of sparkling wine, on May 23d, 1743, comprised 301 bottles of the vintage of 1741 to Pierre Joly, wine-merchant, bon des douze chez le Roi, whatever that may mean, at Paris; 120 bottles to Pierre Gabriel Baudoin, also bon des douze, at Paris; and a similar quantity to the Sieur Compoin, keeping the ‘hotellerie ditte la pestitte Escurie,’ Rue du Port-Maillart, at Nantes in Brittany. The entry specifies that the wine for Nantes is to be left at Choisy-le-Roi, and taken by land to Orleans by the carters of that town, who are to be found at the Ecu d’Orléans, Porte St. Michel, Paris, the carriage as far as Choisy being 4 livres 10 deniers (about 4 francs) for the two half-baskets, and to Paris 3 livres 15 deniers the basket.
Between 1750 and ’60 parcels of wine were despatched to Warsaw, Vienna, Berlin, Königsberg, Dantzig, Stettin, Brussels, and Amsterdam; but one found no mention of any sales to England till the year 1788, when the customers of the firm included ‘Milord’ Farnham, of London, and Messrs. Felix Calvert & Sylvin, who had a couple of sample-bottles sent to them, for which they were charged five shillings. In the same year Messrs. Carbonnell, Moody, & Walker (predecessors of the well-known existing firm of Carbonnell & Co.) wrote in French for two baskets, of ten dozens each, of vin de Champagne ‘of good body, not too charged with liqueur, but of excellent taste, and not at all sparkling.’ The Chevalier Colebrook, writing from Bath, also requests that 72 bottles of Champagne may be sent to his friend the Hon. John Butler, Molesworth-street, Dublin, ‘who, if contented with the wine, will become a good customer, he being rich, keeping a good house, and receiving many amateurs of vin de Champagne.’ Shortly afterwards the Chevalier himself receives 50 bottles of still wine, vintage 1783. In 1789 120 bottles of Champagne, vintage 1788, are supplied to ‘Milord’ Findlater, of London; and in 1790 the customers of the house include Power & Michel, of 44 Lamb-street, London, and Manning, of the St. Alban Tavern, the latter of whom is supplied on March 30th with 130 bottles of Champagne at three livres, or two ‘schillings,’ per bottle; while a month later Mr. Lockart, banker, of 36 Pall Mall, is debited with 360 bottles, vintage 1788, at three shillings.
In this same year M. Moët despatches a traveller to England named Jeanson, and his letters, some two hundred in number, are all preserved in the archives of the house. On the 17th May 1790 he writes from London as follows: ‘As yet I have only gone on preparatory and often useless errands. I have distributed samples of which I have no news. Patience is necessary, and I endeavour to provide myself with it. How the taste of this country has changed since ten years ago! Almost everywhere they ask for dry wine, but at the same time require it so vinous and so strong that there is scarcely any other than the wine of Sillery which can satisfy them.... To-morrow I dine five miles from here, at M. Macnamara’s. We shall uncork four bottles of our wine, which will probably be all right.’ In May 1792 Jean Remi Moët is married, and thenceforward assumes the full management of the house. On December 20 of the year following, when the Reign of Terror was fairly inaugurated, we find the accounts in the ledger opened to this or the other ‘citoyen.’ The orthodox Republican formula, however, did not long continue, and ‘sieur’ and ‘monsieur’ resumed their accustomed places, showing that Jean Remi Moët had no sympathy with the Jacobin faction of the day. In 1805 he became Mayor of Epernay, and between this time and the fall of the Empire received Napoleon several times at his residence, as well as the Empress Josephine and the King of Westphalia. The Emperor, after recapturing Reims from the Allies, came on to Epernay, on which occasion he presented M. Moët with the Cross of the Legion of Honour. In 1830 the latter was arbitrarily dismissed from his mayoralty by Charles X., but was speedily reinstated by Louis Philippe, though he did not retain his office for long, his advanced age compelling him to retire from active life in the course of 1833. At this epoch the firm, which since 1807 had been known as Moët & Co., was remodelled under the style of Moët & Chandon, the two partners being M. Victor Moët, son of the outgoing partner, and M. P. G. Chandon, the descendant of an old ennobled family of the Mâconnais, who had married M. Jean Remi Moët’s eldest daughter. The descendants of these gentlemen are to-day (1880) at the head of the business, the partners being, on the one hand, M. Victor Moët-Romont and M. C. J. V. Auban Moët-Romont; and on the other, MM. Paul and Raoul Chandon de Briailles.