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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Moët & Chandon’s Wine Experience Manager Marie-Christine Osselin gently taps her glass to arouse the guest’s attention inside the award-winning fine dining restaurant Brasserie 1930. Her long, pleated gown—as golden and as rippled as the multi-layered champagne she is speaking of—is teamed with a cherry red heel which, she tells me, was a conscious style note to aptly match the red seal on the House’s bottles.
Lit only by numerous tall-stemmed white candles, and in her elegantly soft French accent, Osselin expertly likens the Maison’s rich dedication to winemaking to that of haute couture. “Haute Oenologie”, she says with a smile. And, as Osselin went through the tasting notes of Moët & Chandon’s new prestige cuvée titled Collection Impériale Création No. 1, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone is the room on this particular July evening that didn’t agree that this offering, much like the haute couture runways in Paris, is an art form at the highest level of craftsmanship. Taking more than 20 years to craft, it uses seven remarkable vintages, three ageing methods—including in oak and on the lees—and takes eight years to mature in the Maison’s cellars.
An oenologist and passionate gastronome, Osselin guided guests though the night’s brilliant culinary experience, created by Head Chef Niroshan Richards, and its pairings: Moët Impérial, Moët Grand Vintage 2013 and the Collection Impériale Creation No. 1. The latter is the first in a line of multilayered champagnes made from an assemblage of remarkable vintages which are drawn from the House’s vast reserve wine library in Champagne.
“Today, our reserve wine library, one of the largest in the region, has allowed me to craft this creation, which encapsulates the depth of time,” Benoît Gouez, Moët & Chandon’s Cellar Master, says in a press release. “Anchored in our 280 years of savoir-vin, it is a blend of seven remarkable vintages, uniquely produced, selected, aged through different maturation processes and harmoniously assembled: a new expression made possible by our craftsmanship whose foundation lay on Moët Imperial. I am proud to present Collection Impériale Création No. 1 as the ultimate composition to date of Moët & Chandon’s art of Haute Oenologie.”
As guests enjoyed their flavoursome courses—Abrolhos Island scallops! Paspaley pearl meat! Duck consommé! Spatchcock!—they were able to take a look at a limited-edition sculptural piece created by contemporary American artist, Daniel Arsham, at one end of the room. Made from white resin and inspired by the history and savoir-vin of Moët & Chandon, the piece purportedly recalls the chalky soils of the Champagne region. Arsham was commissioned to craft 85 of them for uber collectors.
As the evening wears on, Osselin tells me she has many gold gowns at her home in Épernay in France. One for each special occasion. But like those aforementioned runways in Paris, she always saves the best to toast the anniversary.
Take a look at the evening’s highlights below.
