Champagne houses dabble in the world of art to launch unique presentations, writes Francesca Fearon.

One spring evening at the Abbaye d'Hautvillers overlooking the rolling landscape of vineyards near Epernay, France, Dom Pérignon celebrated the launch of its Vintage 2004 Champagne with a multisensory experience: an exclusive dinner and dazzling avant-garde art happening that combined history with sight, sound, taste and smell.

The Benedictine abbey is where the monk Dom Pérignon devoted his life to creating the first Champagnes in the late 17th century. It is the birthplace of Champagne and the soul of Dom Pérignon. The vintage Champagne house "is a place of inspiration. It is magnetic and cosmic", explains Richard Geoffroy, the Chef de Cave, the man responsible for creating the Champagnes today.

The special event launched the Vintage 2004, which Geoffroy predicts will become a classic. Clients sampled a menu of six courses that highlighted the different characteristics of the 2004 Champagne, and then watched a spectacular digital show that immersed them in the universe of Dom Pérignon.

The "Expanding Universe" multi-surface sight and sound projection was created by Leo Kuelbs and Glowing Bulbs, the Budapest-based video-mapping specialists, and played on the architecture of the building.

"This is a creator-to-creator project," explains Geoffroy. He is aligning the creation of a vintage Champagne with the creation of an artistic performance.

What Kuelbs and his team have achieved is to translate the Champagne into another artistic form. This project highlights the growing synergy between the art world and Champagne houses, but the bonds between art and Champagne are many and varied.

Dom Pérignon has worked on events with pianist Lang Lang and composer Alexandre Desplat: "It is part of our DNA, of putting Dom Pérignon on the stage," Geoffroy explains. The house also worked with David Lynch in creating a limited-edition bottle and box.

For Champagne producer Perrier-Jouët, the artistic bond is about the emblematic art-nouveau illustration on its prestigious Belle Epoque bottles and packaging. The exquisite swirl of white Japanese anemones dates back to 1902 and the master glassworker Emile Gallé, but there is a fresh, delicate interpretation by Japanese floral artist Makoto Azuma for a limited-edition box of the 2004 vintage, released last year.

The brand commissioned Dutch designer Tord Boontje to create the Enchanting Tree that displays anemones and Champagne flutes, and last year for Design Miami, it presented an art installation by British-based design duo Glithero. It was a thought-provoking work combining draped strings of lights and water reflection that reminded the pair of their journey in the dark cellars of the Champagne house in Epernay. Perrier-Jouët's projects range from those appreciated simply for their artistic merit, to those that promote the brand.

Bonds exist in other forms between Champagne and art. On a marketing level Ruinart, which in 1729 became the first established Champagne house, commissioned the renowned Czech artist Alphonse Mucha in 1895 to design their first advertising poster, an evocative art-nouveau illustration. Thus began their close relationship with the art world.