Jon Deitelbaum, founder of Effen Vodka is out to revolutionize Champagne with innovative Beau Joie.
In 2003, he took the spirit world by storm with the launch of the premium Effen Vodka. Now Jon Deitelbaum is turning the traditional, luxury Champagne house upside down with his innovative Beau Joie, which marries traditional and modern to appeal to a new generation of Champagne drinkers. And for those of us in the pursuit to Live Beautifully, bubbles named for beautiful joy caught our attention.
After a storied career in spirits, Deitelbaum was looking to pivot slightly to do something that was the epitome of luxury, quality and at the top perceptually. And nothing in the beverage world says those things more than Champagne.
To understand bubbles better, he spent two years studying Champagne in Epernay, and while he appreciated the history, he saw that there were opportunities to differentiate his Champagne.
“At the end of the day the Champagnes were pretty much the same thing. It’s not like the dirt is 10,000 times better in the Dom Perignon vineyard versus a lower-priced Champagne’s vineyard,” Beau Joie’s Jon Deitelbaum said.
The traditional Champagne houses produced similar style Champagnes because they were all creating the product in the same way. While France does have strict laws regulating the production of Champagne, as an outsider Deitelbaum still saw new ways of doing things.
(We) recently partnered with Marchesa to create what has to be the sexiest Champagne bottle ever produced.
“Overall heritage seemed to negate innovation,” he said. “We studied Champagne because when you decide to create and modify something within the region you need to have a certain decorum and vision.”
What Deitelbaum chose to do to distinguish Beau Joie Champagne in terms of taste was to use no dosage in its production. Dosage is simply the addition of sweetness, sugar, or wine and sugar, to Champagne. This is traditionally done to balance out the Champagne, especially if it was a year that the grapes had trouble ripening. In essence, dosage is a winemaker tool to manipulate or mask taste.
“It’s like having a grass-fed steak seared perfectly and then dumping A-1 steak sauce on it,” quipped Jon Deitelbaum.
For Beau Joie, the focus is on quality grapes and aging anywhere from four to 12 years to ensure the bubbles have achieved a complex taste profile without any heavy manipulation. Besides appealing to the health conscious with no added sugar, the lack of heavy dosage means less chance of a Champagne-filled night causing a headache riddled morning after.
Despite lacking dosage, Beau Joie Champagne is not bone dry. Instead the absence of sugar means that the Champagne highlights the aromas and taste of food more, making it even easier to pair with a special dinner.
While Champagne is something almost everyone knows about, Deitelbaum found that very few people really understand the intricate way it’s made and the laws that must be followed.
“It’s really important for us to educate our customers about the process so they can understand how we’re different,” he said. “Today, consumers are really into the story, especially millennials, which is our biggest market.”
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That culture of chivalry, respect, honor, loyalty and strength was everything we wanted the Beau Joie brand to represent.
Not only does Beau Joie tell the story of how Champagne is made, it has also crafted a fanciful brand story that starts with just one look at its unique bottle. The bottles are encased in a stunning suit of armor made from second generation scrap copper, which is a functional design element designed to help cool the Champagne quicker and keep it colder longer.
“When we were in France we visited a lot of museums and saw all this amazing armor,” Deitelbaum said. “The romanticism of the time of the Knight’s resonated with me. That culture of chivalry, respect, honor, loyalty and strength was everything we wanted the Beau Joie brand to represent.”
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And the Beau Joie bottle has certainly resonated with the consumer. So much so that they have wealthy collectors asking for customized hand dipped gold bottles, and recently partnered with Marchesa to create what has to be the sexiest Champagne bottle ever produced. Designed to resemble one of Marchesa’s couture dresses, there are 10,000 beads on the hand-riddled bottle.
“It’s the sickest thing I’ve ever done,” said Jon Deitelbaum. “It makes the coolest hostess gift.”
It’s a partnership like that and those with the LA. Dodgers, Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Breeders Cup that are helping Beau Joie become not just a beverage, but a Champagne lifestyle.
“I like to say we’re the Rolex of Champagne,” Deitelbaum said.
In the coming year the company plans to introduce Beau 32, a collection of hand-riddled Champagne, as well as a limited-edition, numbered 1999 vintage Champagne in large format bottles that was aged in bottle and hand disgorged in the cellar.
Since its start in 2010 Beau Joie has doubled its growth every year and is now in 30 countries and producing more than 300,000 bottles a year. Clearly, Jon Deitelbaum has produced another hit and remains the toast of the beverage industry.
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