The first pages of the House of G.H.MUMM fabled winemaking history were written long before 1827, its official founding date. The Mumm family, whose lineage includes barons and knights, dates back to the twelfth century. Already in 1761, the family had launched a business as wine producers and merchants based in Cologne, Germany under the name "P. A. Mumm", after its owner Peter Arnold Mumm. The company owned large vineyards in the Rhine valley, where it created its own wines. In the early years of the nineteenth century, Peter Arnold Mumm's three sons, Gottlieb, Jacobus and Philipp, recognised the sales potential of the outstanding sparkling wines produced in the Champagne region of France. As Germany and France enjoyed good relations at the time, the Mumm brothers made the bold decision to establish a new branch of the family company in the Champagne region, creating a branch office in Reims with the assistance of a local representative, G. Heuser. From the outset, quality was the key watchword for the partners in this new entity formed in 1827, and it has remained so for all of their successors. This approach would be encapsulated in the motto penned by Georges Hermann Mumm: "Only the best".