Handwritten letter from Pierre-Gabriel Chandon (1824)

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In 1824, Pierre-Gabriel Chandon conquered the English market, where Moët & Chandon prospered.

Handwritten letter from Pierre-Gabriel Chandon to Monsieur Handerson in London, England. Two pages + Envelope. In French. 20 cm x 25 cm. Epernay, March 1, 1824. Good condition, just a stain (of wine?) on the first page that does not interfere with reading; the 3rd and 4th pages (envelope) are torn in place of the postage, probably when the recipient opened the letter. Single piece.

extracts

The praise you make of our cellars, especially the wines they contain, and which you will reveal to our compatriots, will undoubtedly contribute to consolidating their reputation. We will act in such a way that this praise does not fall short of the truth and above all of our friendship (...).

The shipping season for our wines has just begun, we will ship you the two or three cases of Ay wine you want within a month; have no doubt about the care with which we have made our choice. We have collected twelve bottles of old wine from Ay, from 1802, which we offer you, praying that you drink it to our health (...).

Claude Moët, a wine merchant descended from an ancient family residing in the Champagne region since the 14th century, founded his house in Epernay in 1743. From the beginning, Claude Moët supplied champagne to Louis XV, the royal courts of Germany, Spain and Russia. His grandson, Jean-Rémy Moët (1758-1841), a friend and supplier of Napoleon Ier and Tsar Alexandre Ier, continued this strategy of opening up to foreign markets. He really expanded the house, competing, for example, with Madame Veuve Clicquot in Russia.

The Chandon name was added to the company when Jean-Rémy Moët gave half of the company to his son-in-law Pierre-Gabriel Chandon de Briailles in 1832, and the other half to his son, Victor Moët, both of whom already worked for the company. The company then changed its name to Moët & Chandon.

Moët & Chandon is today number one in the profession and the benchmark Champagne brand. Its reputation is exceptional: it is estimated that a bottle of Moët & Chandon is opened on average every second somewhere in the world. The house vineyards cover a total of 771 hectares, it is the largest in the Champagne region. In Epernay, the company's headquarters and historic headquarters of the great Champagne brands, at least nine streets are named after the family that built fifteen buildings, including the hospital, two churches, schools and more than fifty houses for vineyard workers.

Henderson was probably a major English importer to the Champagne house.

In 1824, Pierre-Gabriel Chandon had not yet inherited half of the company but his work was already highly appreciated by his father-in-law Jean-Remy Moët. This long handwritten letter, with that beautiful "Chandon" signature that gave - in 1832 - its definitive name to the most famous Champagne brand in the world, proves his dedication to the family business and his focus on the development of the brand outside France.

For almost 200 years, the brand and the family already made a point of serving their customers and commercial partners in an exceptional way. This unprecedented letter shows the family creating lasting and faithful relationships, a recipe that has made Moët & Chandon one of the great French luxury brands, renowned worldwide.