Ruinart is the oldest established Champagne house, exclusively producing champagne since 1729. Founded by Nicolas Ruinart in the Champagne region in the city of Reims, the house is now owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. The house was founded after the 1728 edict of Louis XV, which authorized the transport of wine in bottles. Prior to this, wine could only be transported in barrels, making it impossible to send Champagne to distant markets, and confined consumption primarily to its area of production. The house is named after Nicolas Ruinart’s uncle, Dom Ruinart, a Benedictine monk and contemporary of Louis XIV who was convinced that “vin de mousse” from Champagne would have a bright future.
The first delivery of “wine with bubbles” went out in January, 1730. Initially these wines were delivered only as presents to clients of Nicolas’ fabric business (the family’s main business up until that point had been cloth trade). Six years later, however, the wild success of the bubbly wine had turned Maison Ruinart into one of the most successful houses in the Champagne business and the fabric business was abandoned altogether.
On April 12, 1817, Louis XVIII granted nobility to François Irénée Ruinart. With the letters of nobility, the King also granted François the heraldic crest which has appeared on the labels of Ruinart bottles ever since.
Ruinart has had a long standing relationship with the Arts. In 1895, Andre Ruinart asked Czech artist Alfons Mucha to illustrate a poster of Ruinart. Today the brand is still closely involved with Contemporary Art and plays a role in numerous international events such as ARCO, the Foire de Bale, the Carre Rive Gauche, London Design, and Miami Art Basel. The house utilizes talent today: India Mahdavi, created the “Champagne Spoon” bottle stopper in 2006, Christian Biecher, created the “Flower” bottle stopper in 2007, Patricia Urqiola, designed the “Fil d’Or” bottle stopper in 2010 and Maarten Baas, named “Designer of the Year” at Art Basel Miami 2009, created the “Bouquet de Champagne” in 2008 and the “Melting” ice bucket in 2010.