Champagne Telmont: ‘It’s not about being a celebrity brand’
Champagne Telmont president Ludovic du Plessis announced the launch of the Réserve de la Terre Rosé in London on Monday, detailing the wine brand’s journey from “mission impossible” to its latest successes.
When du Plessis, who spent a decade working at Dom Pérignon before a seven-year stint at Cognac brand Louis XIII, was searching for a new project in Champagne, he was looking for “mission impossible”.
His goal was to find a Champagne house on its way to being 100% organic. He found what he was looking for in Telmont.
Rémy Cointreau’s Champagne Telmont, based in Épernay, is probably best known as the maison backed by Hollywood megastar Leonardo DiCaprio, who is one of its four stakeholders. But du Plessis, who first met the Oscar-winning actor 20 years ago, said he doesn’t want Telmont to be lumped in with other celeb-backed brands.
“It’s not about being a celebrity brand,” he said, explaining that DiCaprio, who is also a prominent advocate for environmental sustainability, uses his global platform to be a spokesperson for the brand’s green goals.
du Plessis was speaking at the launch event of Champagne Telmont’s latest release: the Réserve de la Terre Rosé. Produced from 100% certified organic grapes, the wine is bottled in green glass made with 87% recycled material. Just 5,119 bottles of the wine have been produced for its inaugural release.
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Telmont held the launch event at Heath Ball’s Red Lion and Sun pub in Highgate, North London. The wine was served alongside a menu of oysters, heritage tomatoes and burrata, turbot, strawberries and cream and aged comté.
The maison is working towards Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) and is focused on a goal to become net zero. du Plessis argued that for drinks brands, working towards net zero goals means more for the planet than carbon neutral certifications. “You pay and you are carbon neutral tomorrow,” he said. However, du Plessis’ intentions for the brand are very much long term.
The US is one of Champagne Telmont’s biggest markets alongside Japan, the UK and the domestic French market. Asked how the maison will be impacted by US tariffs on goods from the EU, du Plessis said short-term headwinds are not his biggest concern. His motivation has nothing to do with politics or religion, he said. Instead, everything he does is to ensure that in 100 years, people will still be drinking Telmont.
This sentiment is one clearly shared with the maison’s celebrity stakeholder. “It’s the taste of the future,” DiCaprio said of the new expression.
Réserve de la Terre Rosé is available now at £88 from Champagne Telmont. Telmont Champagne Réserve Brut is priced at £52, available via Waitrose.
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