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To toast the 150th anniversary of Moët Impérial, a dinner in Epernay, France, highlighted the combination of history and innovation that keeps Champagne popping

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Moët & Chandon is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its flagship bottle, Moët Impérial.MAUD CAILLET

For a bubbly fan, the words “Avenue de Champagne” conjure up visions of a grand French boulevard flowing with effervescent wine like a scene out of a more grown-up – though equally burp-filled – sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But such a road exists, in the quaint town of Épernay about 90 minutes east of Paris, and it is overflowing with Champagne in a way that’s more literal than you might imagine. Below the road are 110 kilometres of white chalk caves where millions of bottles lie, building up their fizz for the world’s top houses.

Guarding the entrance to the avenue is the home of Moët & Chandon. On the south side of the street is its grand office block, which includes a visitor centre, boutique and access to Moët’s own 28 kilometres of cellars. On the north side is the Résidence de Trianon, a village estate built for Jean-Rémy Moët, grandson of house founder Claude Moët, in the early 1800s that now functions as a clubhouse for the label’s top customers. In the spring, it was where Moët & Chandon hosted a series of celebrations to toast the 150th anniversary of its flagship bottle, Moët Impérial.

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The quaint town of Épernay about 90 minutes east of Paris holds the headquarters of Moët & Chandon.MAUD CAILLET

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The Moët & Chandon head office enjoys pride of place as the first house located along Epernay’s Avenue de Champagne.MAUD CAILLET

The history of Moët & Chandon begins another century-and-a-half before that first Impérial popped. In 1716, Claude began working as a négociant, bottling and selling wine for the region’s grape growers. As sweet, sparkling vintages gained popularity in royal courts from Spain to Russia, Moët assembled an enviable list of clients including France’s King Louis XV. Jean-Rémy is the person responsible for having focused the company’s efforts on bubbly and acquiring hundreds of hectares of the area’s best vineyards. “Chandon” enters the picture in the form of Pierre-Gabriel Chandon, who married Jean-Rémy’s daughter Adélaïde in 1816 and partnered with her brother, Victor, on the new venture Moët & Chandon. Today, the business is the flagship winemaker of the LVMH luxury-goods group, which includes other Champagne houses including Krug, Ruinart and Veuve Clicquot.

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Epernay’s Avenue de Champagne includes a statue devoted to monk and cellar master Dom Pérignon, whose name is used for another one of the house’s sparkling wines.MAUD CAILLET

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In 1716, Claude Moët began working as a négociant, bottling and selling wine for the region’s grape growers.MAUD CAILLET

Moët Impérial’s big moment came in 1869, when tastes started to shift away from oversweetened Champagne. Previously, in Russia for example, the preferred style of bubbly had some 300 grams of sugar per litre, about three times the sugar in a can of cola today. Moët Impérial, on the other hand, is in the drier brut style. Today, in the hands, nose and palate of cellar master Benoît Gouez, it’s only become brut-er, with hints of apple, pear and white peach. The latest bottling only has seven grams of sugar per litre, reflecting the contemporary oenophile’s penchant for freshness in sparkling wine. “I don’t know what the taste of Moët Impérial was 150 years ago. We have one bottle left but we never open it,” says Gouez. “Moët & Chandon has always been consumer-driven. It doesn’t mean that we’re doing everything they ask for, but at least we listen.”

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'Moët & Chandon has always been consumer-driven. It doesn’t mean that we’re doing everything they ask for, but at least we listen,' says cellar master Benoît Gouez (far left).MAUD CAILLET

Reflecting Moët’s roots as a négociant, creating a non-vintage Champagne like Impérial where consistency trumps idiosyncrasy involves mixing and matching wines. The fruit can be sourced from hundreds of different local growers, and reserve wines are stored for a few years as a hedge against inconsistent growing seasons. According to Gouez, there’s no secret recipe, though the blend usually includes a relatively equal amount of pinot noir and pinot meunier and a smaller measure of chardonnay. “I want our Champagnes to taste like the grapes they’re made of – it’s a very simple concept,” he says. “Moët Impérial is a little bit of everything. The beauty of that wine is that it’s so complete … there are so many elements involved. What I like with Impérial is that idea of spontaneity, of not being obliged to wait for a special occasion.”

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Endless images of Hollywood stars downing flutes of Moët at awards shows and race-car drivers dumping magnums on their pit crews have added to its cachet.MAUD CAILLET

Still, momentous events are central to the brand’s iconography. Endless images of Hollywood stars downing flutes of Moët at awards shows and race-car drivers dumping magnums on their pit crews have added to its cachet. So it’s not surprising that Impérial’s 150th was marked with some over-the-top dos.

“We live in the present, but we have roots, we have history, we have patrimony, we have people, we have a style,” says Gouez. All those aspects were on display for the series of celebratory dinners hosted at the Trianon house. The relationship between past and present was emphasized by the menu created for the dinner, which included pairings of four dishes interpreted in the styles of 1869 and today including sorrel soup, Russian salad, poached turbot and a gingerbread dessert. A month later, at the Château de Saran, the recently revamped seat of the Moët family, celebrities including model Kate Moss, actors Uma Thurman and Natalie Portman and tennis star Roger Federer enjoyed a similar parade of dishes – and a bonus fireworks display over the hills of Champagne.

Moving forward, the château will become another venue to host high-rolling bubbly fans, but accessing the world of Champagne centred around Épernay doesn’t require a home cellar full of cases of fizz. A good spot to base yourself in the area is the Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa, which looms like a Bond villain’s lair overlooking the vineyards and boasts an extensive bar menu of local bottles. Tours of the Moët & Chandon cellars can be booked online for visits between April and December. And opening in February 2020 is the Musée du vin de Champagne et d’Archéologie régionale d’Épernay, which will capture the unique history and character of the region’s wine culture.

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A good spot to base yourself in the area is the Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa (seen here), which looms like a Bond villain’s lair overlooking the vineyards and boasts an extensive bar menu of local bottles.MAUD CAILLET

Gouez, who has worked in California, Australia and New Zealand, says that what makes Épernay unique and the ideal home for Moët Impérial is its combination of terroir and technical know-how. “Épernay is the capital of Champagne, in the sense of being in the middle of the vineyards,” he says. “And I would say the soul of Moët & Chandon is in Épernay … in the cellars.” Just below the cobblestones on the Avenue de Champagne, in fact.

The Globe and Mail Style Advisor travelled to Epernay as a guest of Charton Hobbs. The company did not review or approve this article prior to publication.

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