International Marketing Study Program 2001
Moet et Chandon, Champagne, Epernay
19 January 2001
Started really early in the morning, we had our breakfast in the bus served by our kind tour leaders. After breakfast, everyone just fell asleep again in the bus during the 2 hour journey to Epernay. Then we arrived at Moet & Chandon and everyone was looking forward to the presentation and trying this very famous champagne. We had some coffee before the presentation by Pascal Pecriaux, Brands Education & Commercial Training Manager of Moet & Chandon, about the unique champagne making process. He explained in great detail about the process and about the importance of climate and soil to the quality of the finished product. He also stressed that raw material selection was crucial in producing champagne because the freshness of the wine is in the expression of the taste.
After a short video about Moet & Chandon, we had a tour at the underground cellars. We could only marvel at the 28km of cellars, that stored 3 million bottles of champagne.
We tasted the brilliant champagne in a salon at Hotel Moet. In the tasting stage of the champagne, Moet & Chandon was trying to educate consumers to make them respect the value of champagne. Education is the key of their business strategy. We took some pictures and had some informal conversation before going for lunch in the Hotel Chandon together with Justin Weston, Market Director of North America for Moet & Chandon.
In the afternoon, we had two presentations from Jiles Halling, Area Manager for Asia, about the marketing strategy and the champagne market situation and the position of Moet & Chandon in the market. The presentation was so interesting and we asked many questions.
The innovation that was later to become champagne at Moet & Chandon began with Mr Dom Pierre Perignon (1639 - 1715). His secret of champagne was making white wine from black grapes and ageing them in a cellar. Champagne was traditionally consumed during celebrations. However, Moet & Chandon is trying to change this image and focusing their promotion on making champagne a drink that can be consumed during many different occasions at any time of the day or night.
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