The house was established in 1743 by Épernay wine trader Claude Moët as Moët et Cie. Champagne demand grew during the reign of King Louis XV, and after Claude-Louis Moët joined the business, the winery's clients came to include nobles and aristocrats. In 1833 the name was changed to Moët et Chandon when Pierre-Gabriel Chandon de Briailles — son-in-law of Remy Moët and partner to Claude Moët's grandson Jean-Remy Moët — joined the firm.
The concept of a vintage champagne was introduced in 1840, and Moët marketed its first vintage in 1842. The flagship Brut Impérial expression was launched in the 1860s. The Dom Pérignon prestige cuvée — named after the Benedictine monk Pierre Pérignon, celebrated in legend as the "Father of Champagne" — was originally owned by Champagne Mercier before being transferred to Moët in 1927. The first Dom Pérignon vintage was 1921, though it was only released for sale in 1936.
Moët & Chandon merged with Hennessy Cognac in 1971, forming Moët Hennessy. In 1987 that group merged with Louis Vuitton to create LVMH, which became the world's largest luxury goods group. The champagne house held a royal warrant as supplier of champagne to Queen Elizabeth II.
Dom Pérignon is Moët & Chandon's prestige cuvée brand and was the world's first prestige cuvée, an idea proposed by Englishman Laurence Venn. It is a vintage champagne produced only in the best years, with all grapes from a single harvest. Each release blends approximately 60 percent Chardonnay and 40 percent Pinot noir, with around five million bottles produced per vintage. According to wine authority Tom Stevenson, all Dom Pérignon vintages require at least twelve years of aging to develop the wine's signature silky mousse.
In 1973, the then Moët-Hennessy company founded Domaine Chandon as the first French-owned sparkling wine venture in the United States, siting it in the Napa Valley. Chandon had already established an outpost in Argentina in 1959, and followed with a Brazilian operation in Garibaldi in 1973. Further Domaine Chandon wineries were established in Australia (Coldstream, Victoria, 1986), China (Ningxia region, 2013), and India (Nashik region, 2014).
Moët & Chandon served as the official champagne of Formula One podium ceremonies from 1966 to 1999, a role that became an integral part of the sport's visual identity through that era. The brand returned to the role in 2016 but did not renew after 2017. It resumed as Formula One's official champagne supplier from the 2025 season onward. Separately, the Chandon brand announced a sponsorship of the McLaren Formula One team beginning in 2016.
In June 2022, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority issued a warning after it was determined that a 3-liter bottle of Moët & Chandon Ice Impérial had been found to contain MDMA; a person in Germany died as a result of the contaminated product.