Ong Chin Huat speaks with Alexandre Mea, Founder and CEO of Champagne CARBON, a brand making waves in culinary and gastronomic circles and one of the world’s most popular sports.
Known for merging traditionally handcrafted Champagne with unique bottle designs, Champagne CARBON was created in 2011 by Alexandre Mea, the fifth generation of the Devavry family of Champagne Devavry fame, which set up their viniculture in Champillon in 1920. However, while his family’s Champagne brand is smaller and highly exquisite in production and quality, Champagne CARBON is forward-thinking and avant-garde, at least when it comes to the bottle.
After more than four years of R&D, Mea developed a bottle wrapped in carbon as an advanced technological alternative to the traditional glass bottles used in champagne making. “Only the finest fruits from Grand Cru and Premier Cru regions are harvested,” says Mea, the CEO of Champagne CARBON.
Handcrafted with a carbon fibre wrap, constructed throughout 37 complex stages and available in various finishes, this unusual bottle also protects from light and preserves the taste of wine over time.
Luxurious Magazine caught up with this jet-setting champagne maker while he was on a stopover in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to showcase the latest additions to the Champagne CARBON collection – the fresh-tasting vintage Carbon ƎB.03 Bolide for Bugatti and the complex yet fun Carbon Cuvee Sunset White Luminous.
An exclusive cocktail hosted by LamboCellar, the premier importer of Champagne CARBON in Malaysia, was held at Restaurant La Fleur.
Luxurious Magazine: What prompted you to create Champagne CARBON back in 2011?
Alexandre Mea: Champagne CARBON was created to offer something unique and different from the existing brand and to deliver the finest champagnes in the most modern packaging. To launch Champagne CARBON, we had to do four years of R&D to craft carbon fibre on top of the glass bottle. It was very challenging, but it helped us create unique champagne bottles that are now recognised worldwide.
LM: What makes Champagne CARBON different?
Alexandre: Champagne CARBON is a selection of the most qualitative parcels of the Champagne Appellation, mostly in the Grand Cru and 1er Cru areas, where we pick the best grapes.
The winemaking remains very traditional for our non-vintages cuvées: oak barrels, no malolactic fermentation etc.
The excellence of craftsmanship is our consistent goal to craft the perfect champagne cuvées in the beautiful carbon fibre bottle, offering an amazing experience. Drinking Carbon is more than just Champagne; this is a lifestyle experience…
LM: Coming from a fifth-generation family involved in the Champagne business, how difficult was it for you to start a new brand?
Alexandre: The most difficult part was convincing my parents that I could do it! Indeed, we are winegrowers and have always paid attention to quality Champagnes, but there was no marketing or strategy to create an ultimate experience for our clients. Creating such beautiful Champagnes requires time, work, and money. All of this is never easy and always challenging.
LM: Can you tell us about the unique Champagne CARBON bottles and what makes them so unique?
Alexandre: Each bottle is handcrafted in REIMS by our craftsmen. After four years of R&D, we developed a process requiring over 37 steps to craft one bottle in eight days! Indeed, each bottle receives three layers of carbon fibre and two layers of varnish, and we need to polish them to make them perfect. This is like an art, and each bottle is unique.
LM: What is the best-selling Champagne in your repertoire?
The Champagne CARBON For Bugatti is becoming very popular in the USA, where brand recognition and prestige by association are strong.
LM: As a pioneer and industry disruptor, what are your main challenges in manufacturing and marketing your brand?
Alexandre: Like any disruptor, our industry’s mentality is difficult to change, and competition is fierce. I had to prove to my peers that Carbon is not just a bottle; this is also a qualitative wine from the Champagne Appellation.
LM: Do you think it is more difficult to launch a new brand or revive an existing one?
Alexandre: Launching a new business is always a challenge, no matter where you come from. Success is not guaranteed, and hard work is required. I would say the most important thing is to share a vision with your Board, clients, and customers…
Developing a brand takes time, as does knowing how and where to position it. This is why we became the Formula 1 champagne sponsor from 2017 to 2019! It was an ideal opportunity to get brand awareness in a short period. Usually, we say a champagne brand recognition needs at least 30 years to start being recognised…This means we work for our children and the next generations most of the time in the wine business!
LM: What are the world’s top five markets for Champagne CARBON?
Alexandre: Carbon is well placed in the French market, including the South of France (Monaco, Saint Tropez) and the French Alps (Courchevel). Asian markets are very dynamic, with Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore being three of our most important markets.
North America, including the USA (Miami, Las Vegas, and New Jersey/NY) and Canada (Toronto and Québec), is also helping to drive our success, as is Europe, including the UK (London), Spain, and Italy.
LM: Does Champagne CARBON pair well with food? If yes, what kind of cuisine does it pair well with?
Alexandre: Carbon offers a selected range of the finest champagnes. Depending on the blend and the vintage, these champagnes pair well with food. For example, the finest Japanese or Chinese cuisine can pair well with our Blanc de Blancs Vintage champagne.
The other cuvées go well with gastronomic French or Italian food. Most top sommeliers provide accurate advice when they list Carbon for this pairing. We highly recommend drinking Carbon over a nice lunch or dinner.
LM: Champagne CARBON is now inextricably linked to motor racing. Could you tell us why you associated this sport with the brand?
Alexandre: The carbon fibre crafted around the glass bottle surprises many automotive industry leaders when they look at and touch the bottles. The opportunities for motor racing were brought to us by people inspired by carbon champagne and who thought the bottle was the perfect match. The pinnacle of the champagne industry with the leaders of the automotive and racing world!
For me, this was an ideal prestige-by-association opportunity. The racing world shows fierce competition, hard work, challenges, and the emotional part of winning. This is evocative of many aspects of Champagne CARBON.
For further information on Champagne CARBON, visit www.champagnecarbon.com.