Region & History

Which Champagne houses are based in Reims? Ruinart, Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot, Lanson, Roederer, Mumm, Krug, and Pommery, each with its own founding date. The oldest is Ruinart: the house was founded on September 1, 1729.

The year was no coincidence, since shortly before, in 1728, Louis XV had authorized the transport of wine in bottles. Ruinart sent out its first shipment in January 1730 and is considered the oldest house to produce exclusively Champagne.

Taittinger traces its roots back to 1734 and has carried the family name since 1932, Lanson followed in 1760, and Veuve Clicquot in 1772. Louis Roederer started out in 1776 as Dubois Père & Fils and has gone by its current name since 1833, with the Rouzaud family still running the house independently today.

Strikingly many founders came from Germany. Florens-Louis Heidsieck moved from Westphalia to Reims in 1785. The sons of a wine merchant from Cologne founded the house of Mumm in 1827. Johann-Joseph Krug from Mainz started his own house in 1843, and Pommery & Greno was established in 1858. Krug has belonged to LVMH since January 1999.

Since the law of May 6, 1919, the name Champagne has been tied to a defined territory, the appellation followed in 1936, and the Comité Champagne in 1941. According to its figures, around 370 houses ship more than two-thirds of the volume, while 16,200 growers farm 90 percent of the vineyard area (2023 data). On the label, the abbreviation NM indicates a house that also processes bought-in grapes, while RM marks a grower who makes their own Champagne from grapes they grow themselves.