Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger Nominated for Wine Enthusiast's Wine Star Awards Innovator of the Year

Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger Nominated for Wine Enthusiast's 2026 Innovator of the Year Award for French Bloom's leading role in the evolution of the non-alcoholic landscape

Category leading alcohol-free luxury sparkling wine producer recognized for driving the category into a new era

French Bloom founder Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger has been nominated for Innovator of the Year in Wine Enthusiast's 2026 Wine Star Awards. The annual Wine Star Awards honor individuals and companies making outstanding contributions to the wine, spirits and beverage industry, with this year marking the 27th anniversary of the award. 

With the creation of French Bloom, Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger has helped redefine what it means to raise a glass, championing greater inclusivity while propelling the non-alcoholic category, and premium sparkling wine in particular, into a new era. French Bloom is the result of cutting-edge innovation and significant investment in R&D, combined with centuries of savoir-faire and winemaking expertise. This distinctive approach has enabled French Bloom to shape a new perception of the non-alcoholic category and establish a history of firsts. Its strategic partnership with Moët Hennessy marked the group’s first investment in the 0.0% alcohol segment, while French Bloom also became the first wine brand to own an estate dedicated to non-alcoholic wines. The maison has continued to set new benchmarks, becoming Formula 1®’s first official alcohol-free sparkling wine partner and the non-alcoholic wine served at Coachella. 

At the heart of French Bloom’s innovation is its work as a wine Maison. From the outset, the team has focused on the quality of the wines before dealcoholization, developing its own approach to crafting organic base wines with the freshness, structure and natural acidity needed to retain complexity at 0.0%. In Limoux, French Bloom works with high-altitude vineyards and carefully selected parcels to build wines around tension, precision and a distinct sense of origin.

That savoir-faire is increasingly expressed through the Maison’s most ambitious cuvées. La Cuvée Vintage, first released with the 2022 vintage and followed by 2023, marked a new step in exploring how vintage, origin and élevage can be expressed in an alcohol-free wine. Crafted from organic Blanc de Blancs and aged in oak, each release reflects the character of its year rather than seeking absolute consistency from one vintage to the next.

L’Extra Brut pushes that philosophy even further. With zero dosage and a deliberately minimal approach, the cuvée has been celebrated by the wine world for its precision, tension and purity. It is perhaps the clearest expression to date of French Bloom’s work in Limoux: a wine shaped first in the vineyard and cellar, then carefully dealcoholized to preserve the structure and identity of its base wines.

Together, La Cuvée Vintage and L’Extra Brut illustrate the direction French Bloom is taking the category: beyond simply removing alcohol, toward wines defined by winemaking, vintage and terroir.

Today, French Bloom’s sparkling wines are featured on the wine lists of hundreds of Michelin-starred restaurants in more than 70 countries, with a presence spanning some of the world’s most prestigious cultural and hospitality destinations. Three time winner of the World’s Best Alcohol-Free sparkling wine at the World’s Best Sparkling Wine Awards. In October 2025, Air France introduced French Bloom’s award-winning alcohol-free sparkling rosé to its ultra-premium La Première cabin, adding it to a portfolio of France’s most celebrated wines served onboard. French Bloom is also featured in La Première lounges and the Delta One Lounge at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. More recently, French Bloom has expanded its U.S. luxury hospitality footprint through national on-premise listings across all current Soho House locations and several Auberge Collection properties.

“To be nominated as Innovator of the Year is a tremendous honor, particularly because it recognizes how French Bloom has pushed the boundaries of what alcohol-free wine can be," says Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger, Founder of French Bloom. "We founded French Bloom on the belief that the essence of a great wine lies in its complexity, its depth, the emotions it arouses, and its central role in social life, with alcohol being secondary. The vision was never simply to create an alcohol-free alternative. We wanted to create something people would genuinely desire, whether they drink alcohol or not. The fact that French Bloom is now being recognized for its role in redefining the category is incredibly meaningful.”

Founded by Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger and Constance Jablonski, who teamed up with Maggie’s husband, Champagne and Cognac maker, Rodolphe Frerejean-Taittinger, French Bloom brings together centuries of tradition and a distinctly modern vision: elevated sparkling wines that deliver freshness and vibrant acidity, crafted from organic wines produced with grapes grown in the high-altitude clay soils of the Coteaux Océanique in Limoux, then meticulously dealcoholized.

The Innovator of the Year nomination underscores the maison’s leading role in the evolution of the non-alcoholic landscape and the changing rituals of contemporary lifestyle.

Learn more about French Bloom at frenchbloom.com.

ABOUT FRENCH BLOOM

Driven by the innovative vision of two entrepreneurs, Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger and Constance Jablonski, Maison French Bloom was founded in 2019 and has since become a world leader in the category of prestige alcohol-free sparkling wines, doubling its growth each year. By joining forces with Rodolphe Frerejean-Taittinger, CEO of French Bloom, who has extensive experience in the production of Champagne and Cognac, the French Bloom team is driven by a pioneering spirit and is reinventing the art of celebrating. The Maison was founded on the belief that the essence of a great wine lies in its complexity, its depth and the emotions it arouses, with alcohol being secondary. French Bloom redefines the potential of alcohol-free sparkling wines with its innovative winemaking process using organic Chardonnay wines from Languedoc and combining traditional methods with innovation. With its collection (Le Blanc, Le Rosé, L’Extra Brut, and La Cuvée Vintage Blanc de Blancs) and driven by more moderate consumption and increasing “flexi-drinkers”, French Bloom has expanded into more than 70 countries since 2021. Through its commitment to excellence, French Bloom has gained significant recognition, including the title of "World's Best Alcohol-Free Sparkling" at the World's Best Sparkling Wine Awards for three years. On October 1, 2024, French Bloom announced a strategic partnership with Moët Hennessy, world leader in luxury Wines and Spirits, which has acquired a minority stake in the Maison. In 2025, French Bloom became the first-ever Official Non-Alcoholic Sparkling Wine of Formula 1®, a distinction it will proudly hold for the next decade.

About Wine Enthusiast

Wine Enthusiast Companies is the ultimate source of innovation and information around wine. Founded in 1979 by Adam and Sybil Strum, the family-owned company is composed of Wine Enthusiast Commerce and Wine Enthusiast Media. Wine Enthusiast Shop provides premium wine-lifestyle products, reaching millions of consumers globally via direct mail, an e-commerce site, and a business-to-business division. Wine Enthusiast magazine is an award-winning print publication and online resource that showcases wine news, food trends, and more than 25,000 ratings and reviews annually. Wine Enthusiast events include the annual premier Wine Star Awards gala. In 2024, the company launched a travel division, which includes the Tasting Room Directory and Cork+Compass Travel. Together, Wine Enthusiast Companies is the indisputable hub for everything wine. We bring wine to life.

About Wine Enthusiast's Wine Star Awards

Each year, Wine Enthusiast celebrates the most influential members of the wine, spirits, and beverage world at the annual Wine Star Awards. This year marks the 27th anniversary of honoring the individuals and companies that make outstanding contributions to the industry. There are 16 categories for the 2026 Wine Star Awards. Four of the categories will have a named winner. The other 12 categories include a list of nominees exemplifying dedication and innovation to the success and growth of the wine, spirits, and beverage sector. The nominees were nominated by members of the Wine Enthusiast media team, including the global sales, events, marketing and editorial divisions. The 2026 Wine Star Award winners will be honored at the 27th annual black-tie gala in January 2027.

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