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The History Of Perrier Jouet Champagne

The Perrier-Jouet Champagne House was established in 1811 by Pierre-Nicolas-Marie Perrier, a native of Epernay. Perrier was a common time at the time so in order to make the House distinctive he added his wife’s maiden name of Jouet to the title. The wines were instantly popular and thanks to the business acumen of his son Charles, the House soon forged into the British market becoming a favourite of both Queen Victoria and Edward VII. Perrier-Jouet introduced the concept of Vintage Champagne and in 1858 were the first House to state the cru (vinyard name) and year on the cork and two years later displayed this information on the label. Charles rose in prominence and was elected Mayor of Epernay, by the time of his death in 1878 the House was producing over a million bottles per year.
Perrier Jouet NV (75cl) Perrier Jouet NV (75cl) Perrier Jouet - Belle Epoque (75cl) Perrier Jouet - Belle Epoque (75cl)  
As Charles had no son, the business was passed on to his nephew Henri Gallace and through the marriage of his father Louis into the Gallice family the business eventually came under control of Michel Budin in 1959 and in the same year was taken over by Seagram, a Canadian liquor company. In 1974 the House produced 1.2 million bottles per year and this has risen to over 3 million in present times mainly due to its increasing popularity in the US market.

The Perrier-Jouet house is particularly famous for the production of one Champagne, the 'Belle Epoque'. One of the most distinctive features of this Champagne is evident even before it has been opened - the swirling anemone design that graces the bottle easily identify this world renowned prestige cuvee. In 1902 Henri Gallice had commissioned Emile Galle to design a special bottle and although it had some success it was quickly forgotten. In 1964, Pierre Ernst discovered four of these bottles; they were considered so strikingly beautiful that the House resolved to fill them with an equally fine Champagne and so the design was re-released two years later to celebrate the seventieth birthday of Duke Ellington. Initially only 5000 bottles were produced but within twenty years over 600,000 bottles were produced and sold each year.