Clovis Taittinger : "Puerto Rico will always be champagne territory".
When we hear about the champagne brand Taittinger, images of glamour and opulence come to mind. However, when you talk to one of the heirs of this family business, the feeling you get is quite the opposite. Humility, attention to detail with their customers and employees, as well as working with passion and heart is a vital part of what has become this ultra well-known and drunk champagne cellar around the world.
Recently, Clovis Taittinger, CEO of Taittinger and great-grandson of the company's founder, was visiting the island with the intention of sharing with several clients, as well as personally thanking the V. Suarez company for 50 years of support and distribution of the brand in the Puerto Rican market.
"Puerto Rico is a country where people live well and where the soul of Puerto Ricans is like a sun, where they love life, enjoy the moments and love to live," said Taittinger, who has worked in the company since 2006 at the request of his father, Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, who acquired the winery that same year. "We could say that Puerto Rico is like champagne, since it has all its ingredients: there is positivism, energy, joy, fire and lots of bubbles. It is a very special country, which always was, is and will be a champagne territory."
The company, which sells about six to seven million bottles of champagne annually in 140 countries around the world, considers Puerto Rico as one of the main markets in the region. This is reflected in the number of champagne lovers and fans of the brand that the young entrepreneur had the opportunity to meet and greet while on the island.
Champagne of the highest levelThe hallmark of Taittinger Champagnes is the high percentage of Chardonnay used in its production, which can range from 40% in the Brut Réserve Non Vintage to 100% in the prestigious Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs. This predominance of Chardonnay provides a style of elegance, delicacy and finesse that is recognized worldwide and has earned the house many accolades and awards over the years.
"At Taittinger we make champagne of a high level, with a consistent and very regular quality. It's a very light style of champagne, which you can drink without having collateral damage," laughingly explained the young man who graduated from Edhec Business School in France.
Although champagne is more associated with formal events such as festivities or weddings, Clovis has ensured that the brand is seen as a more relaxed, modern and "cool" brand, reaching agreements with organizations and companies related to art, music and sports. For example, since 2014 Taittinger has been the official champagne of the FIFA World Cup.
"It's great to have a partnership with a sport like soccer that gives a thrill to millions of people around the world. Like champagne, soccer is a sport of passion, very hot and is totally irrational," added the man in charge of Taittinger's global sales and marketing. "However, we also have an ecosystem of commitments to cultural, art, gastronomy and music, the latter being the one we love the most, because it touches the heart. We are partners with the Paris Opera, as well as other concert venues and theaters. Music transports emotion to an incredible level and is something very important to us, as it is part of our daily lives."
Great historyTaittinger's origins date back to 1734, when Jacques Fourneaux founded the original house. The Taittinger link was established in 1931, when Pierre Taittinger, the founder of today's company, acquired the house. Pierre spent time in the Champagne region when he served in World War I as a young cavalry officer. Stationed at the Château de la Marquetterie, he fell in love with this property and its vineyards and eventually purchased the company. Today, the Reims-based house is run by Pierre's great-grandchildren Clovis and Vitalie, the latter being the company's president.
Before Clovis started working in the family business, they were going through turbulent times when Taittinger had been acquired by a conglomerate, only to be bought back by his father. "When I started 17 or 18 years ago, we had hit a slump and were a smaller and less developed brand than we are now," noted Taittinger, who studied history at Sorbonne University in Paris. "Since then, we have been working hard to put Taittinger back among the world's leading brands, raising the quality and popularity.
Despite that, Taittinger is clear that the main objective of the family champagne brand is not to grow inordinately and without a clear direction. "Growing for the sake of growing is not our goal. We want to maintain a company with soul and a 'cool' spirit, friendly, dynamic, with super high quality, super regular and a force of employees who are happy to work here," added the young entrepreneur who worked for several years in the banking industry, as well as in the real estate and hotel sector before joining his father. "I don't want Taittinger to be a giant brand. I want it to remain a tiny, small, human, accessible, generous company with a heart. For me that's the most important thing. In the end, I work, for better or worse, with my heart."
