Ruinart is considered the first, oldest, Champagne house, founded in Épernay in 1729 by the family of the Benedictine monk Dom Ruinart, who had written down the production techniques developed at the time for making sparkling wine.
Ruinart has been run by the same family for two centuries, it moved its headquarters from Épernay to Reims, where it acquired Roman-era tunnels dug under the city to be used for the aging of Champagne bottles. Napoleon consumed the Champagne Ruinart. Ruinart has grown to an aannual production of 3 million bottles. The Ruinart vineyards extend into the Côte de Blancs and the Montagne de Reims.
The Ruinart style involves fermentation in steel to maintain freshness and Chardonnay is its reference grape, so much so that the Ruinart cuvée prestige is a blanc de blancs. Moreover aging on the lees are always long. Ruinart enjoys an important reputation, especially in France.
Today it is part of the LVMH group.