The world’s oldest, still operating champagne house and easy—on-the-palette Champagne has turned holistic and gone into some radical new easy-on-the-conscious packaging. And vintage zeitgeist.
Ruinart, now owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, has been making premium Champagne since 1729. Prior to that, wine could only be transported in barrels and not bottles, which made it impossible to send Champagne to distant markets. Nicolas Ruinart authorized the first delivery of “wine with bubbles” in 1730. The sparkling wine was a present for a client of his brother’s cloth business.
Until now the Ruinart bottle was inspired by the first champagne bottles of the eighteenth century. Not it’s been given a second skin. With a nod to paper-making.
Ruinart – “Seconde Peau” is an entirely recyclable cloak, composed of 100 percent natural wood fibers. Showcased exclusively in Selfridges as part of its ‘Project Earth’ sustainable initiative, it is available for both Ruinart’s flagship Blanc De Blanc as well as Rose.
Says Maison Ruinart cellar master Frédéric Panaiotis: “Climate change is already happening in the vineyards. The Champagne terroir is the source of our wines’ excellence. We have a responsibility to protect and preserve this natural environment’.
Ruinart’s goal was to retain the thrill of giving or receiving a beautifully presented bottle of champagne while making that covering as environmentally friendly as possible. It even maintains its form in an ice bucket.
Two years in development and revolutionizing the coffret (small box or chest) market, the new casing – designed by Maison Ruinart along with partners James Cropper Colourform and Pusterla 1880 – is nine times lighter than the previous packaging and reduces the carbon footprint by 60 percent. The design evokes the chalk walls of the Maison’s Les Crayeres wine cellars in Reims.
The shell is free of edges due to a pressurized water jet cutting process of its contours, a technique developed specifically for Ruinart. The coffret closes thanks to a snap fastener molded directly onto the case.
“Innovative, authentic and environmentally conscious, the second skin case crystallizes our commitment to sustainability,” says Maison Ruinart President Frédéric Dufour.