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Champagne - a symbol of France, celebration and reconciliation
In addition to running the internationally acclaimed Taittinger champagne house, Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger is the Chairman of Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars Mission. Here he explains why the symbolism of champagne is so important and so powerful.
Why is champagne so universal and exceptional?
P.-E.T: Champagne has become the absolute model of sparkling wine thanks to a very special history, climate and subsoil, to courageous, inventive and triumphant men and women, and to a savoir-faire that has been perfected over the generations. In addition to being a reference, it is also a symbol. Throughout the world, it is perceived as the wine of happiness and celebration par excellence, which presides over all moments of celebration and success, whether in family life or in love, in international and professional relations, and even in the sports world.
To what does it owe this prestige?
P.-E.T The first great champagne merchants travelled the world in the eighteenth century and enticed the celebrities of the day with their wines, including the Prussian King, the Russian Tsar, the Royal Prince of Sweden and Norway, the royal courts of Siam and China, American high society, and later, Churchill and Marilyn Monroe, among many others. Champagne was drunk at banquets, to celebrate the signing of treaties and at every manner of social function. Champagne also inspired many artists, painters, photographers, writers, musicians and the world of cinema. It thus gained international fame by conveying a certain image of France and its art of living, and as an accessible luxury.
Champagne is also considered to be the wine of reconciliation. Why is this?
P.-E.T Champagne was born in the Champagne region, where the world’s armies have confronted each other since the third century, in particular during the First World War. The region has always risen from the ashes. It was in Reims Cathedral that France and Germany reconciled on 8 July 1962. This war-torn land on which the wine of happiness is now grown has thus become fertile land for humanism, hope and reconciliation between peoples.
This reaffirms the legitimacy as to why we organise a unifying event on this theme at the beginning of summer each year, which is open to all - the ‘Séjour des Réconciliations’ festival.
