When we were walking along the Avenue de Champagne in Epernay with our guide Pascal Pécriaux, he said “Do you now the best deal you can get in Epernay?” We assured him that we did not, and Pascal said, “When we walk to the end of the Avenue we’ll come to a champagne house called de Castellane, I could not say this when I worked for Möet, but their Vintage champagne is the best champagne you can buy for your money.”
Pascal told us that de Castellane is the only champagne house where a case of the vintage champagne (Millésimé means Vintage in French), costs the same as a case of the house champagne.
The Viscount Florens de Castellane founded the champagne house in 1895. He chose the red cross of St. Andrew for his champagne label. The cross came from the banner of the oldest regiment in the Champagne region. The company became famous for state of the art marketing and their advertising posters became famous.
The Viscount built a modern champagne facility at the turn of the century. It was located it next to the railway to Paris giving it fast access to the national capital. At the time, many champagne houses sent their champagne shipments by river on barges.
Large champagne houses often marry their children e.g. Moet & Chandon. In 1970 the de Castellane’s and the Laurent-Perrier champagne group were also joined by marriage. The combined company then became part of Laurent-Perrier in 1999.
The opinions in this article are those of the Champagnion.co.uk. We do not market or sell Champagne for this producer.