Lanson

History

1. 1760

   A judge from Reims

   François Delamotte, a judge from Reims, founds a Champagne trading house in a town house on the corner of rue Cérès and rue des Marmousets. The family coat of arms bears the motto “Vive et me ama” - live and love me. With his son Alexandre he runs the firm Delamotte Père & Fils.

2. 1798

   A knight from Malta

   When Bonaparte captures Malta and dissolves the Order of St John, the founder's younger son, Nicolas-Louis Delamotte, a Knight of Malta, returns to Reims and joins the firm. He adopts the Maltese cross as a trademark. That cross still adorns every bottle of Lanson.

3. 1837

   A pact between two families

   Jean-Baptiste Lanson, a family friend and from 1828 a partner of the Delamottes, takes over the house after the death of Nicolas-Louis under an agreement between the families and renames it J-B Lanson et Compagnie. His sons Victor-Marie and Henri join the firm. By 1833 the house was already making rosé Champagne, one of the first to do so.

4. 1900

   At the courts of Europe

   In 1882 Victor-Marie Lanson signs an agreement with the London firm Percy Fox that will last a hundred years. In 1900 Queen Victoria grants Lanson a Royal Warrant, which the house still holds. Later come appointments as supplier to the Spanish and Swedish courts.

5. 1937

   The black label

   Victor Lanson, who rebuilt the ruined firm after the war and bought more vineyards, wants to promote a non-vintage Brut. In honour of its first market, Britain, he gives it an English name: Black Label. In 1927 he had taken over the buildings and cellars of the house of Binet on rue de Courlancy, where Lanson is still based today.

6. 1975

   A carousel of owners

   The family sells the house to the Gardinier group; it then passes to BSN (the future Danone), and in 1991 to LVMH, which after three months sells the brand on to Marne et Champagne while keeping 203 ha of vineyards. In 2004 it is rescued by Caisse d'Épargne, and in 2006 it is bought by the Boizel Chanoine Champagne group, renamed Lanson-BCC in 2010.

7. 2015

   Dantan and Clos Lanson

   Hervé Dantan, after 22 years at the Mailly Grand Cru cooperative, arrives in 2013 and in 2015 takes over from Jean-Paul Gandon. He builds a new press house and introduces casks and a small proportion of wines that have gone through malolactic fermentation. The emblem of the new era is Clos Lanson, a one-hectare walled vineyard in the centre of Reims, bottled as a separate wine since 2006.

People

Curiosities

1. The Maltese cross on the label is a reminder of Nicolas-Louis Delamotte, a knight of the order who returned to Reims when Bonaparte took Malta. source
2. Lanson has held a British Royal Warrant since 1900, since the days of Queen Victoria. source
3. The 1882 agreement with the London firm Percy Fox lasted a whole century. source
4. anecdote The collection of old vintages holds bottles going back to 1904, and the chefs de cave's records even mention an 1874 vintage. Richard Juhlin admitted that it took a 15-year-old Noble Cuvée and Lanson 1979 to convince him how good Lanson can be. source
5. Clos Lanson sits on 30 metres of crumbly chalk covered by a thin layer of soil, and the walls and the city raise the temperature of the plot. Half the vines were planted in 1961, the other half after the frosts of January 1985. source
6. In the courtyard of the headquarters on rue de Courlancy stands a bronze copy of Joseph Chinard's “Carabinier” from the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in Paris. source
7. In January 2026 the Lanson-BCC group bought the house of Heidsieck & Co Monopole for 50 million euros. source