The ambition was clear: Collection Impériale Création No. 1 was to be nothing less than the quintessence of Moët & Chandon’s style. Benoit Gouez describes the path to this goal as haute Œnologie, an analogy to haute couture. In fact, the cuvée is a Brut nature – a first for Moët & Chandon. The blend consists of 40 percent Pinot Noir, 40 percent Chardonnay and 20 percent Meunier. However, these come from completely different sources: 42.5 percent are wines from the 2013 base vintage, followed in equal proportions by reserves from the 2012, 2010, 2008, 2006 and 2000 vintages. And finally, 15 percent come from bottles from the 2004 vintage that have already been disgorged – which, out of a total production of 70,000 bottles, corresponds to 10,000 bouteilles that have been opened and reprocessed (“remise en cercle”).
Benoit Gouez, primus inter pares
SP: You are the chef de caves of the largest Maison in Champagne, Moët & Chandon. How do you personally deal with this?
When I was named Chef de caves, I was a little proud and a little concerned, because it’s a big responsibility. But I work with a team, I work with people who have been with me for more than 20 years. And then I rely on more than 280 years of savoir faire at Moët & Chandon. We have great assets, such as our vineyards … So the base is very solid. Besides, Champagne is a village, it’s a very small region, we know each other. There is an association of Chefs de Caves, a group of current and past cellar masters: the Association Amicale de Chef de caves de Champagne. We see ourselves as friends, not as competitors.
Even if I tell a colleague all about Moët & Chandon, no one will be able to reproduce it exactly. Because we have our own vineyards, our own grape suppliers, our own way of deciding the harvest date, our own yeasts, our own way of managing fermentation, our own way of tasting, a certain human sensitivity that is unique to each house. We compete on grape supply and in the markets, but there is no competition in between. So I lead this association, not because I am the cellar master of the biggest house, but out of respect for what we have done over the last 20 years.
Innovation as key
In the past, Moët & Chandon has often been the locomotive for innovation in Champagne …
Even though we are the largest estate, we depend on grape supplies, on local partners. Champagne needs Moët & Chandon and Moët & Chandon needs Champagne. We are very intimately associated with each other. I like to say: as long as you have clients, you’re right. So in Champagne, everybody is right. Some are to my taste, some are not. Am I more in the right than somebody else? No, I don’t think so. We have the chance to have the assets and develop a style that is still popular and quite universal. But I don’t see that as a burden. Maybe it’s the fact that I don’t come from a winemaking family. For me, this means that I don’t carry the weight of tradition on my shoulders.
You also have to accept to fail. If you don’t fail, it’s because you’re not taking enough risks.
Benoit Gouez, Chef de Cave
Furthermore, the fact that I started my career in the New World, in California, Australia, New Zealand, has helped me to open my eyes. Today, I try to keep them open as much as I can. It’s so easy to come into a position, stay there and close yourself off. But you have to try to experiment, discuss and also accept to fail. If you don’t fail, it’s because you’re not taking enough risks.
Even at Moët & Chandon, you have to dare to do this. Not because you are the leader, but to develop yourself further. That’s what the Collection Impériale is all about. When I started, not too many people were interested in it. Do we really need something like this? But nevertheless, people let me do it.
Remise en cercle or the third fermentation
Let’s talk about the “remise en cercle”, the re-cycling of already filled champagne bottles in the production process, probably the most unusual part of the production of Création No. 1. How did you first come across this?
That was in 1996 with [my predecessor] Dominique Foulon. Foulon prepared a limited edition “Esprit du siècle” for the year 2000 celebrations. This was a cuvée in magnums containing some of the most characteristic vintages of the 20th century. He drew on the oldest reserves of the house. Of some vintages, however, there were only filled bottles left. These were then opened and the contents blended with the remaining wines. In 2000, when we introduced “Esprit de siècle”, I was among the few winemakers who took part in the tasting. I was blown away by the concept and the influence of the old vintage champagne in the final blend. I started thinking about the different ways of ageing to take it one step further.
The predecessor MCIII
This was the preparation for the Moët & Chandon MCIII, the actual forerunner of Création No. 1.
I had some wines in tanks and in oak barrels. Although we stopped fermenting in oak barrels in 1964, we continued to age some reserve wines in oak for the liqueur de dosage. And we had wines in the bottle. So I said, okay, what styles of wine I have? I have some in steel tanks, in oak barrels and in the bottle. What happens when I blend them together? The first cuvée I tried was based on the 1998 vintage, but it was far too light for such an ambitious concept. That was in 2000. Then in 2002 I made a blend with the base 2000 vintage, which I also didn’t find satisfying enough. The third was then based on the 2003, and this was released in 2015 as MCIII 00.14, and was supposed to be the first edition in a new series. It was then stopped for diffrent reasons. The name wasn’t good, the packaging wasn’t good… Although some loved the packaging with the massive cap. But once you opened the bottle, it was useless. And the price was too high and finally the narration that came with the wine was a bit too complex. The wine has been well appreciated. But a lot of people said: It’s like a great white Burgundy with bubbles.
I remember at the Paris launch, the maison served the MCIII in large Spiegelau Burgundy glasses.
Yes, you had the impression that it wasn’t Champagne, it’s a wine from Champagne. At first I was satisfied, but then I became convinced that as a leading Maison in Champagne we should be recognized by great champagnes and not by great burgundy with effervescence. So finally, we had gone a little too far from this goal, and honestly, Collection Impériale embodies much more the true Champagne spirit. Even if it is quite winy and gastronomic, it’s definitely a champagne. Three elements make the differences. First: 2003 [with MCIII] was bold, rich and powerful. Whereas 2013 [with Création No. 1] is more energetic, more lively and more fresh. Secondly, ten years before the oak barrels we had invested in at the time were still young and had much more oak character. While ten years later, the casks give less oaky character and it’s more about texture. And thirdly, the MCIII was an extra brut, now the Collection is a brut nature. I have the feeling that Collection Impériale Création No. 1 is more in the spirit of Champagne. So it’s an evolution of the MCIII. This has been an attempt, and honestly, is has been useful. We learned a lot from MCIII.
The new chapter
What happened after the first edition of the MCIII?
Well, I had two blends in the bottle, one based on 2006 and one from 2010. And to be honest, they were good. The 2006 has been disgorged, it should have been launched as an MCIII. But then, we decided to discontinue the project. But I have kept some of it. And then there’s a 2010, which is super good but was never disgorged. That was just bad timing. It should have been on the market five years ago, but we were not ready to launch. The one, which has been satisfying as a wine and we had the right timing, was the 2013 based blend. There is a notion of timing like in real life. You can have good ideas, but people aren’t ready for them yet.
What happened to these experimental cuvées?
The main batch, which we had sealed with crown caps, has been “remise en cercle” [put back in circulation]. But I had also filled magnums and closed bottles with natural corks. I kept them so that we will be able to make a vertical tasting of all the different attempts. At the moment I want to focus on Création No. 1, but I have kept all the samples to taste them in the future.
Création no. 2 is already in production?
In fact, four more Créations are already maturing in our cellars.
Are there any slight changes to the concept?
So far, they all follow the same concept. They are multi-vintage champagnes made from different worlds of ageing. What changes are the respective vintages of the base wines, the vintages of the reserves we use, the number of vintages and their respective proportions. But the concept of multi-vintage, where the reserve wines come from different worlds of ageing, will be kept. At least for the next four créations to come. Now I have the feedback and the confidence of the reception of the Création No. 1. For the next to create, I will perhaps go a step further.
Further parts of Stefan Pegatzky’s interview with Benoit Gouez can be found at Meiningers Sommelier. The pictures were taken in November 2024 in Berlin (KaDeWe), in summer 2024 at the Maison in Épernay and in 2015 during the launch event of the MCIII at the Bourse de commerce in Paris. The design packaging shown in the pictures – a tribute to the chalky soils of Champagne – was created by artist Daniel Arshan and is limited to 85 pieces. Read more here.
Image rights
Stefan Pegatzky / Time Tunnel Images
