G. H. Mumm

For the rugby player, see Dean Mumm.

G. H. Mumm advertisement of 1923

G. H. Mumm & Cie, situated in Reims in northern France, is one of the largest Champagne producers worldwide.

History

The tirage or bottling of champagne at G. H. Mumm & Co. (1879)

Messrs. G. H. Mumm & Co.’s vendangeoir at Verzenay (1879)

Mumm cellars in Reims

It was founded by three brothers, Jacobus, Gottlieb and Phillip Mumm, German winemakers from the Rhine valley and G. Heuser and Friedrich Giesler on March 1, 1827 as P. A. Mumm Giesler et C°. P.A. stood for the initials of Mumm senior (Peter Arnold Mumm), a successful wine merchant from Solingen. Mumm's label is famous for its red ribbon (Cordon Rouge), patterned after and resembling the French Grand Cordon of the Légion d'Honneur.

The French confiscated all of the Mumm's property, although they had lived in Champagne for almost a century before World War I, because they had never bothered to become French citizens.

The company is owned by Pernod Ricard.^[1]

Mumm Napa

Mumm Napa is one of California's méthode traditionnelle sparkling wine producers, a joint venture between the G.H. Mumm & Cie and Joseph E Seagram & Sons. The location at Napa Valley was founded by Guy Deveaux, who determined Napa's long hot days and cold nights to be ideal for producing the right amount of acidity and ripeness.

Foujita chapel

In 1964, René Lalou, the head of a the Mumm Champagne House, and Léonard Foujita (1886–1968), a Japanese painter belonging to the Ecole de Paris school of art, decided to build a chapel in the gardens belonging to the Champagne house. Begun in 1965, the Foujita chapel was entirely designed by Foujita in the romanesque style, who drew the plans and designed the ironwork, stained glass and sculptures. He supervised the building and interior decoration. The chapel is decorated with frescos, remarkable for their freshness, soft lines and curves inspired by oriental art, in colours of blues, golds, yellows and greens, as well as very subdued reds verging on brown. The chapel was consecrated on 1 October 1966 and handed over to the City of Reims on 18 October 1966. The chapel was designated an historic monument in 1992.^[2]

Foujita also gave G.H. Mumm a fresco depicting “The Virgin in the Vines”. The rose featured in the painting became the cuvée’s emblem and appears on the metallic cap on top of the cork of the rose Champagne.

References

1. ^ Fallowfield, Giles, Decanter.com (December 5, 2007). "Champagne prices to rise by as much as 10% next year". http://www.decanter.com/news/165989.html. 
2. ^ http://www.ville-reims.fr/index.php?id=892

Further reading

• Prial, Frank J. Decantations. NY: St. Martin's Press, 2001.

External links

Media related to G. H. Mumm at Wikimedia Commons

• Mumm official site
• Mumm Napa official site