GH Mumm, the founder of the famous French Champagne brand from Reims, negotiates with a Cognac producer in 1885.
- Handwritten letter from George Hermann Mumm, owner of the famous Champagne house, to Lucien Foucault, a Cognac producer.
- Four pages (but two are blank).
- In French.
- 20.7 cm x 27 cm.
- Reims (France), January 15, 1885.
- Excellent condition of conservation.
- One-of-a-kind.
Excerpts
We carefully tasted and compared your sample to cognacs from other manufacturers, and we regret to have to tell you that your distillates are not suitable for the application we use them for. For it to be combined with our wines, the distillate must be completely neutral and pure to the palate; this is an absolute condition (...).
One of the world's leading Champagne producers, alongside Veuve Clicquot and Moët & Chandon, GH Mumm was founded in 1827. In 1853, Georges Hermann Mumm, the founder's son, gave his name to the brand and defined a business strategy that allowed the company to rapidly expand its cellars and purchase the best vineyards. By the 1890s, Mumm Champagnes were officially supplying royal families in England, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Prussia, Austria-Hungary, the Netherlands, and Spain, as well as luxury cruise ships, hotels, restaurants, and clubs. Today, it is also an official sponsor of major sporting events, such as the Formula 1 World Championships and the NBA. "Cordon Rouge" is a symbol of prestige and lifestyle in over a hundred countries.
In 1885, GH Mumm negotiated with Lucien Foucault, owner of a respected French Cognac distillery, to buy part of his production to be used in the composition of their Champagnes. However, GH Mumm was not satisfied with the tastings and made another commercial proposal to Lucien Foucault, which seemed to be the purchase of Cognac for export, another specialty of the Mumm house.
Stéphane Kraxner, head of the archives of the Mumm and Perrier-Jouët companies in Reims, explains the relationships between Champagne and Cognac producers at the time:
(...) In fact, as you probably know, champagne needs to expel the fermentation residues to be disgorged, purified. Furthermore, during this operation some product is always lost, necessary to complete the bottle. While today it is made with older wines or wines from the vintage, this was not the case in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Most champagne houses worked their wines with a mixture of old wine and brandy spirit that allowed them to correct very low alcohol levels in certain years. Progress in fermentation and mastery of production methods, of sparkling wine making, have relegated these techniques to oblivion.
Furthermore, Cognac houses and Champagne houses have seen a certain interest in being represented by the same people in the markets: both drinks representing French luxury. Finally, the merger of the LVMH group Moët et Chandon and Hennessy engendered another rapprochement of the same type as Pernod-Ricard or the subsidiary Martell Mumm Perrier-Jouët, bringing the two products together under common luxury goods management (...).
Handwritten by GH Mumm himself, with beautiful handwriting and a prestigious signature, this letter is particularly valuable for lovers of French wines, Champagnes and Cognac.
