Veuve Clicquot have announced that Didier Mariotti, the former G.H. Mumm head winemaker who left the Pernod Ricard owned house in September last year, has been lined up to take over from Dominique Demarville. Mariotti will join Clicquot from 26 August to work alongside his former colleague Demarville, for what Clicquot describes as a “transitional period, before being appointed cellar master and wine director from 1 January 2020”.
This move is made possible by the surprising news that Demarville is leaving Clicquot at the year-end after 13 years there as chef de cave, something he confirmed in mid-May. He has been lined up to take over at Laurent-Perrier from current head winemaker Michel Fauconnet who is 67, as he prepares to retire after working at Laurent-Perrier since 1983.
While Demarville was recruited for Clicquot by the previous cellar master Jacques Peters, he has now had a hand in recruiting Mariotti for the brand. Demarville and Mariotti worked in tandem at GH Mumm for three years with Mariotti becoming head winemaker when Demarville left to take up the same role at Clicquot in 2006.
Between them Demarville and Mariotti, oversaw many changes to the G.H. Mumm brand, considerably improving the quality which had lapsed after years of neglect in the latter period of Seagram’s ownership, which gave greater priority to sister brand Perrier-Jouët, a decline that continued under Allied-Domecq.
Mariotti who is 48 has worked in Champagne for the past 25 years with positions at Moët & Chandon, Nicolas Feuillatte, G.H. Mumm and now Veuve Clicquot, four of the five largest brands in the region.