The Romans were great wine connoisseurs and expert wine growers. They knew which slopes were best suited to vine cultivation, choosing well-drained lands with good exposure to sunlight, and vines capable of withstanding the rigours of the northern climate. Next came the bishops and the great ecclesiastical vineyard owners. The Bishop of Reims and the great abbeys of Hautvillers, Saint-Thierry, Reims – St-Remi and St-Nicaise – all owned substantial vineyards and laid the basis of the growing methods and winemaking skills. The vines at that time were planted close together (‘en foule’, literally ‘in a crowd’) and required a constant succession of seasonal tasks – starting with pruning, already regarded as the basis of successful viticulture. Hence the pruning hook that symbolizes the winegrower.

The origins of the Champagne appellation lie in a legendary product that is owed to a unique combination of resources. First, a highly original terroir that produces equally distinctive wines. Next, the ingenious thinking shown by local players in seeing and seizing the potential in the effervescence. Lastly the particular talent they displayed for building Champagne’s world-wide reputation as a wine in a class of its own. Champagne wine had enjoyed close associations with the monarchy and nobility since Clovis’ baptism in Reims in the fifth century. His coronation marked the birth of the kingdom of France and established Champagne as the wine of coronation, later known as "the wine of kings and the king of wines”. When Champagne wines became effervescent in the late 1700s, they were an instant success at court and among the wealthy and titled. By the early 19th century, the Champagne Houses were busy creating new outlets for Champagne in aristocratic circles around the world – braving the perils of land and sea to woo the American and Russian markets … Champagne came to symbolize the spirit of France, French culture and liberal thinking. Its reputation continued to spread throughout the 19th century, a time of prosperity and celebration when no high society event was complete without Champagne. Wherever people partied, they partied with Champagne – right up to the turn of the century when bubbly entered its golden age, toast of the belle époque and the Roaring Twenties. At the dawn of the 20th Century the Champagne legend was going strong. Champagne had become the wine of celebration par excellence, its identity now well established in the world arena. The name ‘Champagne’ had already won preliminary legal recognition and would soon come to represent all of the wines originating in the province of Champagne.