In 1716, Claude Moët became a wine trader in the village of Epernay, Champagne. Thanks to success in the industry, Moët was able to found his own wine trading company, the house of Moët, in 1743. The company shipped 19,000 bottles that year with exports to the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, Germany and Switzerland.
During his tenure as head of the company (from 1789 to 1832) Jean-Remy Moët, the founder's grandson, established Moët as the world's first international luxury Champagne brand that not only sold Champagne, but held its own vineyards and made Champagne, as well. Jean-Remy Moët regularly hosted several emperors and kings in Epernay, thus making his Champagne the choice of the European elite. He was a very close friend of Napoleon, who visited the house five times, and as an honor to the Emperor, Monsieur Moët established the Imperial designation on his Champagnes in tribute to Napoleon. Today, this lives on in Moët & Chandon’s Imperial and Nectar Imperial Champagnes.
Moët & Chandon is the only large Champagne house that uses its own strains of yeasts, so that it can perfectly and consistently control every step of the fermentation process.© 2012 Moët Hennessy USA, 85 Tenth Avenue, NY, NY 10011
