Champagne Monopole Heidsieck & Co
AN INTERNATIONAL CALLING FOR EXPORT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING
The house has had a brisk export business since its creation, particularly to Germany and Russia. His Imperial Highness the Tsar was a great lover of champagne, and every year he had two trains full of Heidsieck Monopole sent from France. Florens-Louis Heidsieck began exporting his wines immediately.
Between 1885, the year of its centennial, and 1900, the House went through a boom period.
It sold 952,000 bottles to Great Britain in 1884 and more than 400,000 bottles to Russia in 1912.
Heidsieck & CO Monopole was a leading brand at the turn of the 20th century. It was the official supplier to the King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany (1818), the English court (1911), the Swedish court and King Gustaf (1933), and to Tsar Nicolas II.
L'HISTOIRE EN QUELQUES CHIFFRES
1785 : The House is founded by Florens-Louis Heidsieck, a young German from Westphalia. As cloth manufacturer, he established a trading company for wool and wine in Reims and named it “Heidsieck & Co ”. He soon gives up selling wool and focuses exclusively on trading in wine from the Champagne region.
1818 : Heidsieck & C° Monopole became official supplier to the Court of King of Prussia and the Emperor of Germany.
1828 : Death of Florens-Louis. He hands over a flourishing business to his three young survivors: Henri-Louis Walbaum, Frédéric-Auguste Delius and Christian Heidsieck.
1834 : After several disagreements, the three nephews go their separate ways, and Henri-Louis Walbaum (1813-1883) continues the business alone, joining forces with his brother-in-law Auguste Heidsieck (1796-1870); the name of the company changes to Walbaum Heidsieck & Co.
1860 : Henri-Louis Walbaum and Auguste Heidsieck establish the trademark “Monopole”.
1895 : Heidsieck & C° Monopole is already shipping more than 1.5 million bottles throughout the world and their champagnes are considered by connoisseurs as the finest of wines.
1907 : Creation of Heidsieck & C° Monopole « goût américain ». Official supplier to the Court of Sweden and King Gustaf and also to Tsar Nicolas II with an order of 40,000 bottles per year.
1911 : Heidsieck & Co Monopole becomes the Official supplier to the Court of England.
1923 : Édouard Mignot, founder of the grocery store chain “Les Comptoirs Français”, acquires the company which then becomes Champagne Heidsieck & Co Monopole SA.
1933 : Management board meeting for the creation of the Top champagnes, with Jean Goulden, Frédéric Duntze and édouard Mignot.
1972 : Mumm becomes the majority shareholder in Heidsieck & C° Monopole. In 1980, the Walbaum family sells its shares to Mumm Champagne.
1996 : Champagne Heidsieck and C° Monopole joins the group Vranken which becomes Vranken Monopole.
1997 : Creation of Little Blue Top.
HERVÉ LADOUCE, OENOLOGIST AND CELLAR DIRECTOR AT HEIDSIECK & CO MONOPOLE CHAMPAGNES
Behind our finest range of champagne are the creators of Heidsieck & CO Monopole’s savoir-faire. Since 1785, we have preserved the excellence of our vineyards, guaranteeing the quality and finesse of our champagnes.
This is how Hervé Ladouce, our cellar director, protects the Monopole style we hold to be so precious. His vision nourishes our champagnes, enabling them to last for years and generations.
Hervé Ladouce masterfully blends the grand tradition of Champagne with the changing times.
The Heidsieck & CO Monopole Cellar Director has to know how to respect our past heritage in order to better predict the future… This is even more important for a house like ours, whose founder Florens Louis Heidsieck gave a bottle of our first cuvée to Marie Antoinette.
1998 : A swedish submarine expedition found back the remaining of the Jönkönping wreck. It was localited laying down by 64 meters, at the East top of the Baltic Sea. 2,400 bottles of vintage champagne Heidsieck & C° Monopole from 1907 were founded and extracted from the wrek.
2010 : Bottles of Heidsieck & Co Monopole more than 200 years old were discovered in the wreckage at the bottom of the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland, off the Åland islands.
2013 : New look for the Imperial Cuvée marking the 160th anniversary of the coronation of Empress Eugénie.
2015 : Celebration of the company’s 230th anniversary