The first post-internet Champagne house?

Start-up company PIAFF Group is seeking investment in a bid to become the ‘first Champagne house of the digital age’.

Around 12,000 bottles of Champagne PIAFF have been produced thus far and will be distributed to investors and members following the brand launch in November (Photo: Champagne PIAFF)

The Piaff Group is a UK-based company which claims to combine “the traditional assets of a French Champagne house and e-commerce structures”.

The group has links with the Champagne Mansard in Epernay and aims to produce its Champagne with the help of the fifth-generation Champagne-making Mansard family.

The first 12,000 bottles of the Champagne have already been produced, having spent 18-24 months ageing on the lees and a further six months under cork. Now, the company is seeking £1.5m in funding through the crowdfunding website Code Investing to develop the business and produce the next batch.

Preparing to launch to consumers in New York next month, the start-up aims to become a fully-fledged, direct-to-consumer ‘e-Champagne house’ producing around 350,000 bottles of Champagne per year within the next five years.

“We are the first prospective major Champagne House to have launched in the era of smartphones and e-connectivity, and this has led much of our thinking,” Laurie Kempster, founder and president of Champagne PIAFF, said. 

“Currently Champagne can only be purchased through retailers and distributors but we want to change all that by allowing customers to have a direct relationship with PIAFF and be able to order directly from our château at one tap of an app.

“Our current investment drive to raise an additional £1.5million will, in part, fund the development of the app. In return, we offer healthy returns of 8% as well as perks such as the right to equity in the Champagne House, complete with access to the 17th-century Château PIAFF, and a yearly supply of Champagne PIAFF.”

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Acknowledging that some small brands and variants of established brands have preceded it, Champagne PIAFF aims to become the first major Champagne brand formed since Nicholas Feuillatte in 1972. 

Le Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC) carefully monitors the yield, hectarage and production level among Champagne growers, and new vines can only be planted if old ones are taken out.

The Champagne PIAFF brand was conceived of several years ago by South African Kempster, a forensic accountant and winemaker. The holding company for the brand, PIAFF Group Holdings Ltd, was formed and registered in the UK in 2016.

Kempster has since been joined by a team of founding investors and experts who aim to take the brand global, including British-born chairman Graham Warsop and COO Victoria Bennett.

A spokesperson for the brand explained that what made the brand unique was that its customers are able to have a direct relationship with the brand and its makers, rather than through distributors and retailers.

The direct-to-consumer business model means customers make a ‘one-tap’ order for PIAFF Champagne through a dedicated app. Most bottles will be sold in advance before they leave the cellar, using crowdfunding and membership fundraising. Although the business has just launched, it has ambitious growth plans.

“With a contemporary mindset and a digital approach to customer relations, we are confident we will deliver on our investor promises with ambitions to both reach £9.5m in revenue (394,000 bottles) within the next five years and become a Top Ten Champagne House within 10 years,” Kempster said.

Champagne PIAFF was first introduced during New York Champagne Week last year. Its official consumer launch is set to take place next month at the same event.