Champagne is associated with all things luxurious, sophisticated, and French, which is perhaps why it’s hardly a surprise that Bugatti, France’s most upscale automaker, is one of the few car companies in the world with an “official champagne partner.”
Founded in 2011, Champagne Carbon is a young brand with a long-standing history. The brand was founded Alexandre Mea, the fifth-generation heir to the Devavry family’s viniculture, which was founded 11 years after Bugatti, in 1920.
The family initially set up shop in Champillon, which is about 300 km (186 miles) east of Molsheim, which Bugatti calls home. Filled with a desire to make a brand of his own, though, Mea set up a 15-hectare vineyard and sought to develop of carbon fiber sleeve for his bottles.
Read: Bugatti Reveals Bolide-Inspired EB.03 Edition Champagne With A Two-Tone Carbon Fiber Bottle
So passionate about the champagne that went into the bottles was he, that Mea built himself a home on the vineyard to ensure that he could be there to select only the finest grapes from Grand Cru and Premier Cru regions.
The fruit is picked by hand by a small team that includes the CEO himself. The resulting liquid is then stored in oak barrels, instead of the stainless steel vats of more commercial creators. That time in oak imbues the wine with rich flavors and subtle nuances that aren’t present in other wines.
Once bottled, each wine must spend at least six years in the Carbon cellar. All of which leads to a champagne with soft bubbles and rich taste that resides in a bottle that requires at least 37 steps to assemble.
That leads to products like the recently announced ƎB.03, which is a Blanc de Blancs wine from the 2013 vintage. The blue and black bottle honors with an X motif pays homage to the recently announced ultra-high-performance Bugatti Bolide.
Some bottles are even more intricate, like 2021’s La Bouteille Noire, a 15-liter 2000 vintage that was presented in a unique, hand-crafted case that opened with the touch of a button and featured laser cut aluminum to match the Bugatti La Voiture Noire.
Like Bugatti, Mea says that Champagne Carbon is always looking for new challenges to honor its own history and to welcome in the future. Bugatti, meanwhile, says that the vintner is in line with its own vision of luxury.
“Champagne Carbon is a business with so many parallels to our own, from its century-old heritage and spectacular home to the high emphasis on quality and perfection, no matter the complexity,” said Wiebke Ståhl, Managing Director at Bugatti International. “In the four years of our partnership, we have seen some extraordinary vintage champagnes and unique bottles produced for Bugatti and we continue to work together on new ways to share our combined passion for the very best.”
