This spring, our senior partner, Leo Mounir, celebrated his 88th birthday. During a conversation filled with memories, he told us the story of how our sparkling wine, Petit Bonheur, came to be.
One day, the Mounir brothers had a bountiful harvest of Muscat grapes and didn’t know what to do with them. So they entrusted the grapes to a sparkling wine producer in German-speaking Switzerland to have a sparkling wine made using the traditional bottle fermentation method. The result was so impressive that the producer wanted to keep the wine and simply pay for the grapes. However, the Mounir brothers were convinced of the sparkling wine’s potential and didn’t hesitate to bring the wine back to Valais.
At the Carnotzet, they needed to come up with a name. They settled on “Grand Bonheur.” A few days later, while the label was being designed at the label manufacturer’s, a sudden silence fell over the table. Shortly thereafter, a woman spoke up: “Excuse me, Mr. Mounir, but that expression sounds a bit clunky in French. Why not just call it ‘Petit Bonheur’? At that moment, everyone knew they’d found the perfect name.
A wine born of a happy coincidence. Ever since, every bottle has served as a reminder that the most beautiful stories often begin with a little bit of luck.
