Top Champagne producer Moët & Chandon has announced it is to sell 15ha of vineyards in a bid to buy more vines for its Dom Pérignon wine.
The vines are all of Champagne’s lesser-known grape variety, Pinot Meunier, which does not feature in the Dom Pérignon blend. The 15ha (hectares) are located in the Aisne department, west of the main Champagne region of the Marne.
Moët & Chandon currently owns 150ha of vineyard in the Aisne with the vines costing an estimated €650,000 (£447,862/US$802,511) per hectare.
If all 15 plots are sold the Champagne house stands to make nearly €10m (£6.9m/US$12m). Moët & Chandon intends to use the money to acquire more plots of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, this time in the department of the Marne.
Both more widely-known varieties are used in the Champagne house’s top cuvée, Dom Pérignon.
‘By buying in the Marne, we can increase our production of Dom Pérignon, thus enhancing the status of the house,’ said a spokesman for Moët.
Pinot Meunier is used in Moët & Chandon’s own vintage and non-vintage wines.
Written by Oliver Styles
