Champagne Region

The Champagne Hillsides, Houses And Cellars, UNESCO World Heritage Site Inscribed 2015, From Reims And Its Coronation Cathedral To The Avenue De Champagne In Epernay · Epernay, Grand Est

Champagne is the chalky wine country east of Paris where the sparkling wine of the same name is made, and only wine from here may carry the name. Most visits hinge on two towns. Reims is a working city with a great Gothic cathedral where French kings were crowned for centuries, and several of the big champagne houses keep their cellars in old chalk pits, the crayères, dug deep beneath the city. Epernay, about half an hour south, has the Avenue de Champagne, a long street of grand houses built on top of miles of cellars. Between and around them the vineyards spread over the slopes of the Montagne de Reims, the Marne valley and the Côte des Blancs, with hundreds of small grower-producers who make and sell their own wine. The hillsides, houses and cellars were listed by UNESCO in 2015. Big-house tours are booked ahead and priced by how many glasses you taste; growers usually want an appointment. Reims is less than an hour from Paris by TGV, but the vineyards need a car, a guide or a bike, and someone has to stay sober to drive.

Reims and the Avenue de Champagne, Epernay, Marne, Epernay, Grand Est, France

Champagne is a lived-in region rather than a site, so there are no gates, but almost everything a visitor wants to do runs on bookings. The big houses in Reims and Epernay run cellar tours several times a day at set slots, in French and English, and the popular slots sell out days or weeks ahead in summer, on weekends and around Christmas. Many houses close on some weekdays in the low season, cut their tour schedule in January and February, or close for a few weeks in winter; some houses do not open to the public at all, and others take only trade visitors. Small grower-producers work their own vines, so they ask for an appointment by phone or email and may simply be out in the rows or at a market if you turn up unannounced. During the harvest, usually from late August into September, many growers and some houses stop visits entirely or run a reduced programme; confirm before planning a harvest trip. Reims Cathedral opens daily with long hours, though visits pause during services and the tower climb is seasonal and ticketed. Sunday and Monday closures are common in village shops and restaurants, and lunch service stops early in the afternoon.

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