Winning taste of victory

Through­out its his­to­ry Mumm has been an icon of vic­to­ry of glob­al sport­ing events, and has become syn­ony­mous as the cham­pagne of vic­to­ry and cel­e­bra­tion on the podi­um.

The part­ner­ship is fit­ting as Mumm has long cham­pi­oned inno­va­tors pre­pared to push bound­aries in life and sport. Charles-Armand de Belenet, glob­al mar­ket­ing direc­tor of Martell Mumm Per­ri­er-Jouët, explains the tie-up:

Why has Mumm spon­sored For­mu­la E as the offi­cial cham­pagne of vic­to­ry?

“Our her­itage is a sym­bol of vic­to­ry. It’s what we are known for and why you’ll see Mumm in the hands of win­ners at sport­ing events glob­al­ly. We saw in For­mu­la E the same pas­sion for inno­va­tion and excel­lence that we see in our­selves. In terms of ethos, it is a per­fect part­ner­ship.”

What excites you about the sport?

“Its hunger to inno­vate. Take some­thing like the Fan­Boost con­cept, where­by sup­port­ers can give their teams an ener­gy boost. It’s a com­plete­ly new way to look at a sport. Can you imag­ine a foot­ball team get­ting an extra play­er because of their sup­port­ers? Oth­er sports are shy about exper­i­ment­ing. For­mu­la E has set out to be ground­break­ing. We at Mumm are proud of our rep­u­ta­tion for inno­va­tion. We pro­duced many firsts in the cham­pagne world, such as the first in the indus­try to use 12,000-litre bar­rels in vini­fi­ca­tion, and we are always installing the most up-to-date facil­i­ties. Our lat­est cre­ation is a dig­i­tal­ly con­nect­ed bot­tle, which con­nects with mul­ti­me­dia when opened in a night­club to ampli­fy the moment. We share that appetite to inno­vate, and are delight­ed to sup­port it and be part of it.”

What are your ear­ly per­cep­tions of For­mu­la E?

“The pio­neer­ing spir­it. Ale­jan­dro Agag and his team have cre­at­ed some­thing new and ground­break­ing. The atti­tude of the teams is inspi­ra­tional. They have come togeth­er to com­pete at the high­est lev­el. The win­ners tri­umph through hard work, research and the abil­i­ty to turn ideas into per­for­mance. The atmos­phere is won­der­ful. There is a feel­ing of incred­i­ble excite­ment and togeth­er­ness among the teams and race hosts. Venues such as Long Beach and Paris are so enthu­si­as­tic. It’s ear­ly days for For­mu­la E. This is the sec­ond sea­son, so there is a fresh­ness and uncer­tain­ty around the whole expe­ri­ence. The fans don’t know what to expect. The press are curi­ous. Even the engi­neers and dri­vers are still learn­ing about the sport. It makes it total­ly unpre­dictable.”

And as a sport­ing spec­ta­cle?

“The rac­ing is fero­cious. Let me tell you, when you see how close the cars get at 225 kilo­me­tres per hour you appre­ci­ate the skill of the dri­vers. These dri­vers are the elite. We must give cred­it to the engi­neers too. The motor and gear box design has been hand­ed over to the teams, so man­u­fac­tur­ers can devel­op new ideas. We know that in the future oth­er areas of car design will be opened up too, extend­ing the chance for teams to gain a com­pet­i­tive advan­tage.”

View­ing fig­ures are strong, is that why Mumm is involved?

“I could give you the num­bers on fans, TV view­ers and so on. But that’s not why we are there. Our his­to­ry is devot­ed to cel­e­brat­ing vic­to­ry and dar­ing achieve­ment. Back in 1904 we sup­port­ed the leg­endary explor­er Jean-Bap­tiste Charot dur­ing the first French Antarc­tic expe­di­tion. When Ellen MacArthur com­plet­ed her record-break­ing solo round the world yacht race, she cel­e­brat­ed with Mumm cham­pagne. Today we spon­sor high-pro­file events such as the Mel­bourne Cup and Ken­tucky Der­by horse races. For­mu­la E is where the pio­neers of today are to be found. That’s why we are there.”

But it’s good brand­ing?

“Yes, of course. The moment when the win­ning dri­ver receives a jer­oboam of Mumm cham­pagne and sprays the podi­um and fans is a beau­ti­ful image. The red sash of our house is imme­di­ate­ly notice­able and the scene forges an asso­ci­a­tion with our ethos of ‘Dare, Win, Cel­e­brate’ in the mind of every­one involved. It’s also an act of the­atre Mumm invent­ed.”

The moment when the win­ning dri­ver receives a jer­oboam of Mumm cham­pagne and sprays the podi­um and fans is a beau­ti­ful image

What is so spe­cial about the podi­um?

“It’s a great moment when the dri­vers, team engi­neers and fans come togeth­er and cel­e­brate as one. There is a real sense of cama­raderie. The spray­ing of cham­pagne is a unique moment. It is a demon­stra­tion of the emo­tions, of the joy, of tri­umph, in a way which every­one can see and share. For many race­go­ers it is the high­light of the whole expe­ri­ence. That is why we love being a part of it. At Long Beach last year we launched the new rev­o­lu­tion­ary Mumm bot­tle on the podi­um. It’s the per­fect stage for such an event.”

What’s your hope for the sea­son?

“I want to see more close rac­ing. And for sports fans who don’t know For­mu­la E yet, to take a look. It’s an incred­i­ble spec­ta­cle and the place where the tech­nolo­gies of the future are being devel­oped. You’ll be addict­ed to For­mu­la E.”

For more infor­ma­tion please vis­it www.mumm.com/en

PIONEERING INNOVATION

Mumm Grand Cor­don, award­ed to the win­ner of the Paris For­mu­la ePrix, is the most inno­v­a­tive design in the his­to­ry of the pio­neer­ing cham­pagne house. Break­ing with con­ven­tion, the bot­tle has no front label – instead, the G.H. Mumm sig­na­ture and eagle emblem are print­ed in gold direct­ly on the glass.

Anoth­er strik­ing fea­ture of the design is its shape, which neces­si­tat­ed a whole series of inno­va­tions to the tra­di­tion­al cham­pagne pro­duc­tion process. The bottle’s unusu­al­ly long, slen­der neck accom­pa­nies the devel­op­ment of the aro­mas of Mumm’s leg­endary Cor­don Rouge cuvée, which is remark­able for its intense expres­sion of Pinot Noir, com­ple­ment­ed by the sub­tle­ty of chardon­nay and the fruiti­ness of pinot meu­nier.

Per­haps the most eye-catch­ing fea­ture of the Mumm Grand Cor­don bot­tle is its rein­ter­pre­ta­tion of the famous Cor­don Rouge red sash, which is cel­e­brat­ing its 140th anniver­sary this year. Indeed, this emblem of excel­lence dates back to 1876, when Mumm founder Georges Her­mann Mumm had the idea of dec­o­rat­ing select­ed cham­pagnes with the red rib­bon of the Légion d’Honneur, France’s high­est civil­ian award. On Mumm Grand Cor­don, the red sash is trans­formed into a gen­uine red rib­bon, which in a feat of tech­nol­o­gy is actu­al­ly indent­ed in the glass.