Houses
Ruinart
The oldest established champagne house, founded in Reims in 1729, known for a Chardonnay-led house style and for the 38 metre-deep Gallo-Roman crayères beneath its Reims headquarters.
- Founded
- 1729
- Location
- France
- Ownership
- LVMH傘下
- Known for
- Oldest established champagne house · Chardonnay-led house style · Blanc de Blancs NV · Dom Ruinart (prestige) · Crayères: UNESCO-listed chalk cellars in Reims
- Official site
- www.ruinart.com
Style
Ruinart's house style privileges Chardonnay, generally expressed in a lighter, more linear profile than the Pinot Noir–led styles of the Montagne de Reims. The house's most distinctive wine — Blanc de Blancs — is its non-vintage flagship, unusual among major houses.
Cuvées
- R de Ruinart — the non-vintage brut, Chardonnay-led with Pinot Noir.
- Blanc de Blancs — the non-vintage flagship, 100% Chardonnay.
- Rosé — NV rosé with still Pinot Noir red.
- Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs — the prestige cuvée, vintage 100% Chardonnay from grand cru villages of the Côte des Blancs and Montagne de Reims.
- Dom Ruinart Rosé — vintage prestige rosé.
History
Founded on 1 September 1729 by Nicolas Ruinart, a cloth merchant whose uncle, the Benedictine monk Dom Thierry Ruinart, had been a contemporary and occasional visitor of Dom Pérignon. That date, just months after royal authorisation to ship wine in bottle rather than cask, makes Ruinart the first commercial champagne house. Ruinart was acquired by Moët Hennessy (now LVMH) in 1963.
Crayères
Ruinart's cellars — the crayères Saint-Nicaise — are chalk pits dating to Gallo-Roman times, extending 38 metres below Reims. They are part of the UNESCO inscription "hillsides, houses and cellars of Champagne" (2015).