IN LOVE and business, the Taittinger family has always made the right choices. Consider, for example, Pierre Alexandre Taittinger, the founder of the dynasty.

An engineer, he was forced to flee his native Lorraine region when it was annexed by Germany in 1870, but he propelled himself into haute société Parisienne by marrying the daughter of a powerful industrialist.

They had a son, Pierre, a wine merchant, who found himself a wife of even greater wealth — and it was her father who financed his launch as a producer of champagne.

In 1931 he took over a little-known champagne house, Fourneaux, which had been founded two centuries earlier. A year later, he bought the Château de la Marquetterie, near Reims, and planted chardonnay grapes in the surrounding vineyards.

The decision was judicious, with chardonnay’s lightness corresponding to the taste of 20th-century consumers. Taittinger champagne, as it was now known, grew to become an international brand, developing under the guidance of Claude Taittinger, who took over from his father in 1960. Last year it sold 4.5 million bottles.

By now, however, the family had another string to its bow. In 1954 the straight-talking Pierre Taittinger had been invited to the annual meeting of the Société du Louvre. Founded in 1855, the société had a range of attractive assets, including up-market hotels in Paris, but no management strategy. Pierre Taittinger said that he would provide one, in return for a stake in the company. He got the stake and within a year he controlled the firm — and began to turn it into a luxury goods group. Now it has two of the most exclusive hotels in Paris, as well as the Martinez in Cannes and the Mamounia in Marrakesh, Morocco.

The family has been prominent in French politics. Pierre-Christian Taittinger, one of Pierre’s sons, was a member of the French Senate, while Jean, another son, was Justice Minister in the 1970s and head of the Société du Louvre.

When he retired in 1997, it was his daughter, Anne-Claire Taittinger, then 48, who took control of the group. Facing hostile raids, she sealed a partnership with Albert Frère, the Belgian businessman, to defend the family firm. The raids were defeated, but her deal with Mr Frère ends next year, and potential purchasers are hovering.

With 38 members of the Taittinger family having seats on the board, the management structure is widely seen to be cumbersome, and many analysts believe that profits could be increased by rationalisation of the group. The Société du Louvre share price has doubled over the past decade and some members of the family want to cash in by selling all its interests. Others, such as Mme Taittinger, want to sell the hotels but keep the champagne.

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