The champagne house Ruinart
The history of the great Champagne House
Born in 1729, Ruinart is the oldest Champagne House. Before it, there was none. At its source, the intuition of a monk who was ahead of his time..
At the origin, we find this Benedictine monk, intuitive, visionary and hardworking, modest: Dom Thierry Ruinart, contemporary of Louis XIV. On September 1, 1729, in Reims in the heart of Champagne, Nicolas Ruinart wrote the founding act of the House Ruinart which became the first champagne house in the world.
The House Ruinart was founded by Nicolas Ruinart on September 1st 1729. His uncle was a learned Benedictine monk and Dom Thierry Ruinart had a brilliant intuition. He believed that this new"sparkling wine", made in his Champagne and loved by the European royalty, promises a great future.
The foundation of the House Ruinart coincided with the birth of the French "Siècle des Lumières" and theFrench Art de Vivre. A true culture of the good and the beautiful was born in France, advocating a refined and elegant taste, light and delicate and rare. The Ruinart vintages will naturally find their place in this culture.
The House Ruinart has long had a privileged relationship with the world of art. As early as 1896, André Ruinart approached the greatest illustrator of his time, Alfons Mucha, who then produced an advertisement whose modernity caused a sensation. Today, he expresses his commitment to art through numerous artistic collaborations.
Driven by a constant quest for excellence, the brand has chosen Chardonnay, a rare and fragile grape variety that is the common thread running through all its vintages.
The imprint on the Champagnes Ruinart
A dream of whiteness, purity and absolute. With Ruinart, the songs of the Champagne monks rise to heaven through the whiteness of the sacred dome.
In its crystalline bottle, Ruinart illuminates the spirit with a yellow glow, with green reflections of jade and emerald. The same light, in absolute calm, emanates from the whiteness of the house 's chalk - the most beautiful in the entire Champagne vineyard - or from the virgin freshness of a winter morning.
Hawthorn, lemon, orange and sometimes iris. In the glass, Ruinart exalts the radiance of delicate fragrances. Minerals and purity. In the mouth, the style of Ruinart is dominated by these two typical characteristics of the Chardonnaythe white grape variety that dominates its composition, born on ancient chalk soils: delicious, exact, simple. The fluidity of the feeling makes the style Ruinart recognizable to all.
The wine lover rarely starts his or her Champagne journey with Ruinart. Not that Ruinart is an elite wine, but to appreciate the refinement and depth of its purity requires effort, sensory conviviality and long hours of mind work. Thus, Ruinart reveals itself as it is: a desire for purity, a need for the absolute, a contemporary song of meditation and prayer
The pencils of the house Ruinart
The chalk pits of the House Ruinart, is to discover the history and meet its ancestral know-how. A unique immersion in the beating heart of Champagne, because it is in the depths of its soil that the most emblematic of sparkling wines is born and aged
LISTED AS A WORLD HERITAGE SITE BY UNESCO
A pioneer, it was at the end of the 18th century that the Ruinart family had the intuition that the chalk pits, former white chalk quarries, were capable of offering optimal conditions for the aging of its wines.
Dug in the limestone subsoil of the capital of the Champagne, at a depth of nearly 40 meters, the twenty or so chalk pits of the House Ruinart extend over two levels and 8 kilometers. These chalk cathedrals, still in activity, are the only ones in the city of Reims to be both listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and classified as a historical site.
RUINART, THE OLDEST ACTIVE CHAMPAGNE HOUSE, WAS FOUNDED IN 1727 AND WAS TAKEN OVER BY MOËT & CHANDON IN 1963. PERHAPS BETTER KNOWN IN FRANCE THAN ANYWHERE ELSE, IT IS A RESPECTED HOUSE THAT STANDS OUT FOR THE PURITY OF ITS RUINART BLANC DE BLANCS.
At the beginning of the 17th century, it was hardly safe to transport sparkling wine from Champagne in bottles, which did not prevent some consumers from adding sugar to the barrels of Champagne wine they imported in order to trigger a second fermentation and the setting of foam. However, in France, the story begins in 1728, when the ban on bottled wine was lifted by royal decree
Nicolas Ruinart, draper in Reims, founded the first House of Champagne in 1729. At the beginning, it is only an accessory activity because he likes to offer these wines to his customers, but, within six years, the wine making becomes a main activity with, from 1760, 36000 bottles per year. He was inspired by the advice of his uncle, Dom Ruinart, a Benedictine monk who studied at the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, near Paris. This one, having noticed that the Parisians appreciate his wine, incites his nephew to launch out in this "wine with bubbles" which could bring him certain profits.
It took his fellow champagne makers nearly a century to be convinced, and even then, some hardliners would resist the bubbles. However, since the appearance of champagne in art with the painting of Jean-François de Troy, the Oyster Lunch, the first followers appear. On the table, the bottle is indeed sparkling - a real corkscrew that can be guessed if you study the painting closely.
Frederic Panaiotis, the current cellar master, likes to think that it is a bottle of Ruinart, one of only two Houses at the time, that is pictured in the painting, in 1735. If Chanoine, the other House, wants to claim this title, let it come forward. Ruinart was the first to invest in Gallo-Roman chalk cellars, and now has 8 kilometers of tunnels in the basement of Reims. It is also the pioneer of the pink champagne, since 1764. This does not prevent Panaiotis from pointing out that they do not depend on the past: "It is not because we are the oldest that we should not be modern, he says. We have to recreate history."
If he could, he might ask the family Ruinart, who ran the House for more than two centuries, why they didn't invest in vineyards, especially before World War I, when such land was affordable. As he says, some villages refused to be classified in 1910 because it was more profitable to grow grain than grapes. The family owned 17 hectares, which they kept when Moët & Chandon bought the House in 1963
André Ruinart was one of the first merchants to take an interest in modern art, and was a patron of the Czech artist Alfons Mucha, whom he commissioned to produce a series of advertising posters in 1896. These works depict an almost life-size woman with wild hair holding a glass ofchampagne sparkling with stars. The House continued his interest in art and today Ruinart plays a major role in art patronage around the world, from San Francisco to Kyoto
In 1919, the death of André Ruinart left his young English wife, Mary Kate Charlotte Riboldi, Viscountess Ruinart de Brimont, with the task of rebuilding the House after the war. The young woman of modest origin had been orphaned since childhood. Not only had Reims been razed to the ground by German artillery, but it had also lost an important Ruinart but also lost an important market after the Russian revolution of 1917. A year later, she was also to lose the American market when the United States Congress passed the Prohibition Act in January 1920
For the next five years, Viscountess Charlotte kept the House afloat, until her son was old enough to take over. Today, Ruinart benefits from excellent grape varieties, notably Chardonnay Grand Cru from the Montagne de Reims. While he is part of LVMH, and may feel lost among giants like Moët or Veuve Clicquot, Panaiotis reminds us that Ruinart has an identity all its own: "We are the soul of chardonnay," he says, describing the House's style as bringing an "aromatic freshness" that absolutely deserves to be better known.
What is the best ruinart?
One of the brand's cuvées has just won the coveted Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships.
The rosé Dom Ruinart 2004 is honored.
In this 2021 edition, Dom Ruinart Rosé 2004 tops the list of the world's best champagnes, winning the title of "Extreme World Champion." Launched in 2014, the British World Champagne and Sparkling Wine Championships were presided over by a panel of expert judges who blind-tasted over 1,000 different champagnes.
This new winner is crowned with its large one magnum bottle, made from 80% Chardonnay - split into about two-thirds Côte d'Or Grand Cru and one-third Montagne de Reims, or Dom Ruinart Blanc de Base de Blancs - and 20% Pinot Noir vinified as red, from the Grand Cru de Sillery. It has red fruit flavors enhanced by blood orange and tangerine flavors. A few months ago, Ruinart launched its first dedicated permanent sales space, a pioneer of Champagne Rosé in 1764. Only 20 vintages of Dom Ruinart Rosé have been released since its introduction in the mid-1960s.
Why is ruinart so expensive?
Far from the glitz and glitter, the brand Ruinart has always maintained a stylish and authentic personality. "The house has never stopped developing and promoting an art of living that is dear to it," the brand promises.
It is dear because the Blanc de Blancs of Ruinart is a sublime expression of style Ruinart. It is entirely made from the Chardonnay grape, a blend of the best vintages. We owe it to its aromatic richness, its freshness and its extraordinary purity. Timeless essence of taste Ruinart, this cuvée is the embodiment of this rare refinement.
The first Champagne house since 1729 to discover the roots of its exceptional wines in the work of the land and ancestral craftsmanship. Faced with today's environmental challenges, as it enters the fourth century of its existence, it is accelerating its commitment to the preservation of living soil and the dissemination of technology and culture. Sustainability, beyond necessity, is the source of innovation for Maison Ruinart, the engine of creativity. Today, it strengthens its action in the packaging sector by proposing an innovative and eco-designed alternative to cardboard: 100% paper envelopes, entirely recyclable and molded in the shape of a bottle.
What is the price of ruinart champagne ?
Ruinart is a French champagne manufacturer that is one of the most expensive champagne brands in the world.
The price of Ruinart champagne varies depending on where it is sold, but it can cost up to €450 per bottle. The most expensive champagnes often have a higher price tag because they are made from rare grapes and aged longer.
The price of a bottle of Ruinart depends on the vintage and the size. In general, you can find bottles of Ruinart from 50 euros on the online shop Pépites en Champagne.
Where to find ruinart ?
The Ruinart is a brand of champagne created in 1729 by Nicolas Ruinart. The house is located in Reims, in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France.
If you want to buy champagne Ruinart, we recommend you to contact a specialized retailer known as https://pepites-en-champagne.fr/en/
How much does ruinart champagne cost?
The champagne Ruinart is a champagne of superior quality which is in the top of the range of champagnes. The price of the champagne Ruinart is therefore high, count about 50 euros for a bottle.
Which ruinart to choose ?
The choice of a good ruinart depends on several factors: the type of wine, the year of production, the vintage, etc. It is therefore important to be well informed before making your choice.