Life flows and changes, but from time to time it focuses on fleeting moments to recall the most unforgettable experiences in our life. Exactly like TAITTINGER CHAMPAGNE — enhancing these beautiful memories and creating new “out of time” feelings for passion, joy, love and freedom.
Under this motto, TAITTINGER CHAMPAGNE collaborates with many creative and unique events, from the Paris Opera, the FIFA World Cup, the Montreal Jazz Festival to the British Academy of Film and Television Arts BAFTA.
The origins of TAITTINGER CHAMPAGNE date back to 1734, when Jacques Fourneau founded the first Forest-Fourneaux Champagne House. Around 1912, Pierre Taittinger and one of his brother-in-laws were involved in the distribution and export of champagne.
As a young cavalry officer during the 1st World War, Pierre spent a lot of time in the Champagne region, where he fell in love with vineyards and in 1932 bought the estate and its vineyards from Fourno. Thus Pierre Taittinger became the founder of the world-famous Maison TAITTINGER.
TAITTINGER CHAMPAGNE is a family business now run by the great grandchildren of Pierre Taittinger, Vitalie and Clovis Taittinger.
THE HISTORIC CELLARS
TAITTINGER’s headquarters are located on Reims Butte Saint-Nicaise, a site with more than eighteen centuries of history. Descending 18 metres underground, one travels back to a silent world created in Gallo-Roman times, where in the 13th century monks were already hard at work.
Activity above the remains of the Saint-Nicaise Abbey now revolves around champagne. Everyone working here knows that patience is required for the wine that is slowly maturing beneath their feet.
Destroyed in the French Revolution, only the Abbey’s underground level remains, its crypt and vaults offering one of the most beautiful expressions of the Gothic style in Champagne.
The history of the TAITTINGER cellars is largely connected with the First World War, when the cellars were a refuge for local residents who could not leave the besieged city.
From this period, there are many testimonies carved in stone. Here you can see all kinds of graffiti, the work of civilians or soldiers who wanted to write their name on the memory of their stay in the cellars. You can also see portraits of women — mothers, wives, girlfriends left when the men went to the front.
People continued to work and produce champagne by storing bottles. This activity, which began here several centuries ago, contributes to the reputation of champagnes from the Abbey of Saint-Nicaise.
After the war, the Abbey building was abandoned for many years and was revived only with the arrival of TAITTINGER.
TAITTINGER is one of the most popular houses of the Grandes Marques brand and boasts extensive vineyard holdings, including the prestigious Grands Crus vineyards in the Côtes de Blancs and Montaignes de Reims regions. Unique among other houses, the higher percentage of Chardonnay gives TAITTINGER its own distinctive character.
“TAITTINGER as a family brand with centuries of history, has a very distinctive, light and extremely elegant and consistent style. A style that embodies not only perfection, but also emotion and pleasure, — says Clovis Taitinger, General director of TAITTINGER. — It is very important for us to preserve the heritage. The heritage is first your DNA and your identity that will always be part of you. It is also the magics and the legend that lives forever in you, your company. A magic and a legend which make ourselves dreaming, thinking to different things. I think that Champagne, not only as a great wine but as a symbol of celebration, of happiness, of friendship, of love… Remaining a wine which helps people to communicate to each other, to celebrate a certain idea of life, in good and bad moments.”
“CRADLE” OF THE COMTES DE CHAMPAGNE
The building’s original art-deco style has been preserved, and it now receives more than 60,000 visitors every year who come for a tour of the cellars.
These “underground cathedrals” carved in chalk, connect former mining wells, some of which are up to 40 meters high, and have exceptional conditions provided by the chalk.
The Comtes de Champagne cuvée, one of the most famous and flagship wines of TAITTINGER, slumbers underground for many years before reaching maturity.
Each Cave tour starts with the famous stained-glass window, which is the pride of the TAITTINGER CHAMPAGNE house: depicting Peter I, the Great Tsar of All Russia, during his visit to the Abbey of San Nicaise on April, 27th in 1717. And the shape of the bottle in the hand of the sovereign inspired the design of Comtes de Champagne bottle, which is the quintessence of the Maison TAITTINGER style.
Some vintages, be they Blanc de Blancs (100% Chardonnay) or sometimes — in exceptional years — Rosé (100% Pinot Noir), become classics and join the legendary status of top wines from Champagne region.
With this champagne the mission has been truly accomplished, as it not only excites the palate with a range of exquisite sensations but also touches the very depths of the soul and leaves its mark on a person.
Only 35 great vintages have been produced since the first cuvée in 1952. Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs and Rosé are exceptional cellaring wines which survive the passage of time without losing their qualities and origins. Some of them have become legendary and can no longer be enjoyed — one can only listen to those who have been lucky enough to taste them.
THE ART OF LIVING — L’Instant Taittinger
The birthplace of the Taittinger family can be called Château de la Marquetterie, which is located on the hill of Champagne covered with vineyards.
Acquired by Pierre-Charles Taittinger, Château de la Marquetterie shares a long-standing history with champagne.
Over the centuries, the earth here has been trodden by strong characters who have shaped the soul of the place, making La Marquetterie a site of symbolism for the Taittinger family.
Jacques Cazotte, alive during the dying embers of the France’s Ancien Régime, was one of the most enigmatic figures of his time. This “inventor” of fantasy literature was also one of the former owners of the Pierry-based Château de la Marquetterie from 1760 to the Revolution.
Elegant and full of life, Château La Marquetterie is a symbol of the French way of life — it’s an ideal backdrop for this instant of emotion illustrating the historic signature of “L’Instant Taittinger”.
In addition to family celebrations, Château La Marquetterie serves as a venue for various private events for TAITTINGER friends and special guests.
Invited chefs delight the guests with their gastronomic creations, while champagne sets the backdrop for which event.
Clovis Taittinger: “I think that more and more we all feel the need to live our life at its fullest and not thinking too much. The wonderful consumption of Champagne of the last years express not only a genuine “joie de vivre”, but also maybe a fear of a more ‘though’ future. Champagne helps to overcome. Champagne is associated with friendship, care, love for each other. Opening a bottle of champagne and drinking it with someone has always a meaning, a sense. Also, I very strongly associate Champagne with History and great moments or Legends, not only French ones. And last but not least, I very much associate Champagne with a state of mind, an attitude. Being Champagne (positive, emotional, energetic, crazy sometimes) or not!”
TAITTINGER
Address: 9 place Saint-Nicaise 51100 REIMS
Contacts: +33 (0)3 26 85 45 35;
contactez-nous@taittinger.fr
Instagram: @champagnetaittinger
Text: Marina Timo
Photo courtesy: EATWEEKGUIDE
