This summer, Maison Taittinger is opening its doors! Completely redesigned for a better experience, you will discover the new face of its historic site on the hill of Saint-Nicaise in Reims. The true beating heart of the Maison’s activities, Saint-Nicaise is THE place to discover, visit and taste the Taittinger universe.
To support this reopening, we tell you here, in several episodes, its history and what connects it to the Taittinger family.
The revival of the Taittinger site in Saint-Nicaise:
An architectural project
Everything moves and nothing changes. Soon to reopen to visitors after a period of renovations, the site of the Maison Taittinger Place Saint-Nicaise in Reims, has been reconstructed yet remains faithful to its history. The project, led by Vitalie Taittinger with the Reims architect Giovanni Pace, brings a new light to the heart of the Art Deco building which, for the first time, is in step with the garden. The legacies of the past blend with the harmonies of today.
“It was the right time.” Less than ten years after its registration on the UNESCO World Heritage List and shortly after her accession to the presidency of Champagne Taittinger, rethinking the Saint-Nicaise site, from the reception desk to the office spaces, has become obvious to Vitalie Taittinger. “Global warming has made us face our responsibilities and forced us to focus on what is essential. Our mission is to produce great wines. For me, the best way to express what our Maison does is to have a place to experience what is dedicated to expanding our pleasure project around the product. It seemed important to me to review this setting in order to be able to welcome the public even more distinctly, with more joy. »
In the form of a challenge
To support her in this undertaking, she called on Giovanni Pace, who had already worked with Taittinger on the creation of a vineyard in Kent. “I wanted an architect capable of embracing the sensitivity of the Maison who could work as part of a team, taking part in real discussions.” The person concerned did not hesitate: “For me, it’s an extraordinary project, in the form of a challenge, which speaks of channelling, of revival, which goes with the spirit of the times. The work is about listening, observing, sharing sensitive experiences that allow us ultimately to create something beautiful, functional, that will be there to last.” Their common vision was expressed in “a design that seems to us to be both faithful to the history of the place and to the history we want to carry for the future.”
The visible and the invisible
Some changes will jump out at you, such as the addition of a colonnade, or the more active presence of the garden, but it is also in the invisible that the change is accomplished. “It’s a project with a billion details!” Each one was discussed, weighed up, weighed up again, chosen. These little things “give the place a soul”, reflect the idiosyncracies of the Taittinger family, pay Vitalie’s respects to her predecessors, in particular her father, Pierre-Emmanuel. Giovanni joins in: “We also build for those who were there before us. We are always thinking of them: would they have been proud of what we have done? »
JOINT INTERVIEW WITH VITALIE TAITTINGER AND GIOVANNI PACE
How did you approach the Saint-Nicaise site?
Giovanni Pace: With humility. It is an extraordinary site, steeped in history. In a project like this, you want to respect everything: the place and the values that have made it what it is. The main building, built in the 1920s by Tassigny, has a very clear structure that offers large floors on one level, which gave us a lot of freedom to imagine new spaces. He looked around him for everything beautiful that wasn’t being enjoyed at the time.
Vitalie Taittinger: We talked a lot about the fact that, in this project, we had to consider the Saint-Nicaise site as if it had always been there. What has been added is perhaps a form of resurrection of the past because Giovanni has included a colonnade in an extension which is a return to the original history of the place, when Saint-Nicaise was still an abbey.
What does this colonnade bring?
Giovanni Pace: This idea of a gallery with concrete columns has existed since Tassigny. We strived to revive his design in the new project. This means revealing what already exists with new ambitions, not erasing or masking it. We use a particular, more contemporary concrete, which has the feeling of leather to the touch. You will almost want to kiss the columns!
Vitalie Taittinger: What inspired us throughout the project was the idea of light that should always pass through the building and carry the sparkle of our champagne. This prompted us to work on the space in a totally different way, by arranging large walls that will also take up all the Art Deco style of the Maison. It seemed interesting to us to bring this trait back to the interior of the building and to also find codes dear to the Maison.
In your project, how do the spaces fit together?
Giovanni Pace: The Tassigny building remains the reception area. The entrance is in the same place as before. But when you enter the building, you enter a very bright space. You also immediately discover the garden. Access to the cellar is in the same place.
Vitalie Taittinger: On level one, what was previously the disgorgement room has been transformed into a projection room. It reminds us that Taittinger is a name, a brand, a maison, but what carries it is its world heritage. After visiting the cellars, we go back up and arrive in this large nave, this gallery, a space for strolling, tasting, discovering the Taittinger Collection [launched in 1983, the Taittinger Collection presents the work of artists invited to feature a work on exceptional bottles, editor’s note]. When you come back to the ground floor, you are no longer in the production area, you are in the life of champagne, that is to say its culture, arts, rituals, the gastronomy associated with it, the party. It’s a space where you can experience champagne as art.
Going into the buildings located above the Gallo-Roman chalk quarries and the remains of the abbey is not trivial. What precautions have you taken?
Giovanni Pace: Special techniques had to be implemented given these strong constraints. It is a daily task not to weaken the soil and to preserve these priceless, irreplaceable chalk pits.
Vitalie Taittinger: For us, safety was one of the essential components of the site, with three major elements to protect: the people who work in the chalk quarries and handle the bottles, our stocks of Comtes de Champagne, the house’s most precious vintage, and the UNESCO world heritage. We put an entire organisation in place to ensure that the site unfolded without risks. Even if it meant working more slowly, we also used smaller machines to create fewer vibrations. We walked on eggshells all the time!
What use have you got out of the garden?
Vitalie Taittinger: We wondered how to give nature a place again, knowing that the presence of underground chalk quarries limits the possibilities. Once again, it was necessary to walk on eggshells. We worked with three women landscapers who did an amazing job. The result is a very structured, very understated garden, with an artistic approach that we will also find in the place, an approach to colours and smells. The garden is part of the show. It will evolve in step with the seasons. It has been designed to be seen from the inside but also from the outside.
Giovanni Pace: When you arrive, it’s the first thing you see, it’s in the shape of a welcome mat. When entering the building, it becomes visible, you are always in contact with it, it doesn’t leave you. It has been recaptured and has become a major part of the structure. It will be a very beautiful garden to look at and very pleasant to experience.
