Champagne for Wine Lovers - Houses, Growers & Chalk Cellars
A wine trip to Champagne: cellar tours in Reims and Épernay, how to find grower Champagne, restaurants, routes and tips on prices and labels.
Why Champagne for wine lovers?
There is a reason Champagne is the last wine region many people get around to visiting: it has a reputation for being expensive and aloof. Both are true - and both can be worked around once you know how.
Because this region has two faces. One is the great houses in Reims and Épernay, ageing millions of bottles in Gallo-Roman chalk pits and offering tours with price tags to match. The other is the growers, the récoltants-manipulants, who make Champagne from their own grapes in a single village - and where a tasting costs ten to twenty euros. For the price of one Ruinart tour you can visit four or five of them.
Mix the two and you really understand the region: the blending art of the houses, which have to hit the same style year after year, and the handwriting of the growers, who portray a place. Add a landscape that has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015 - and the practical advantage that Reims is 45 minutes from Paris and a few hours' drive from the German border, for example. For the technical background on soils, grape varieties and method, see our Champagne profile.
Best time to travel for wine experiences
| Period | What to expect |
|---|---|
| May - June | Green slopes, mild temperatures, all houses and growers open |
| July | High season, houses full - book early |
| August - early September | Harvest: the atmosphere is unmatched, but many growers are unreachable then |
| September - October | Our recommendation: autumn colour in the vineyards, quieter, growers available again |
| December | Habits de Lumière in Épernay: over three days the Avenue de Champagne is lit up with video mapping, plus Champagne bars and fireworks |
A note on the harvest: it has moved forward dramatically. In 2025 it began on 19 August - the ninth August harvest in the appellation's history.
The great houses in Reims and Épernay
Taittinger (Reims)
The strongest chalk cellar experience in the region and our tip if you visit only one big house: the cellars lie in Gallo-Roman chalk pyramids around 18 metres down - shafts the Romans dug as a quarry - and additionally in the crypts of the former abbey of Saint-Nicaise from the 13th century. Around 15 million bottles rest here. The visitor programme was rebuilt after a lengthy renovation, with an emphasis on art and gastronomy. Open all year, booking required.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Pommery (Reims)
If you want to combine wine and art, come here: 18 kilometres of galleries some 30 metres down, reached by a monumental staircase of 116 steps, holding around 20 million bottles. Since 2002 contemporary artists have taken over the underground passages every year - so you taste inside an exhibition. Above ground stands a neo-Gothic château. Tours with tasting from around 30 euros; tours in German are occasionally arranged on the spot when enough German-speaking visitors are present, but it is not something to rely on.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Ruinart (Reims)
The oldest Champagne house in the world, founded in 1729 - and the most spectacular crayères of all: chalk pits reaching almost 40 metres down, a labyrinth of around eight kilometres, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015. A new visitor pavilion was added in 2024. The price, though, is the highest in the region - around 90 euros for the standard tour with two Champagnes. Booked out weeks ahead.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Moët & Chandon (Épernay)
The largest cellar system in Champagne: 28 kilometres at 10 to 30 metres deep, constant at between 10 and 12 degrees. The standard tour lasts an hour and a half and ends with two Champagnes; more interesting for wine lovers is the "Moët Collection" format, which puts a current vintage beside one aged for over fourteen years. Open daily, centrally placed on the Avenue de Champagne.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Mercier (Épernay)
The best stop with children - and the cheapest way in among the big houses: Mercier is the only house with an underground visitor train, an electric railway that runs in around 20 minutes through 18 kilometres of galleries 30 metres down, past reliefs carved into the rock. From about 18 euros including at least one glass, open seven days a week. The introductory film is also available in German.
Info: Website · Google Maps
De Castellane (Épernay)
For the view: the 66-metre tower of 1903 is the highest point in Épernay, designed by the architect of the Gare de Lyon in Paris and now a Monument Historique. 237 steps and eight floors take you up to a panorama over the town and the vineyards; a tour, an exhibition and a closing glass come with it.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Two notes that will spare you disappointment: Veuve Clicquot has a new visitor centre near the cathedral, with experiences between about 60 and 260 euros, accessible by advance booking only; the often-mentioned Hôtel du Marc is not a hotel and is not open to the public. And Perrier-Jouët no longer offers a classic cellar tour, only gastronomic formats - from a relaxed tasting menu in summer to a multi-course meal in the art nouveau villa at a three-figure price.
Grower Champagne - and how to find it
The label reveals more than most people realise. At the bottom edge, in very small type, are two letters and a registration number. They are compulsory - and they tell you who really made the Champagne:
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| NM | Négociant-Manipulant: a trading house that buys in grapes and blends. Around 70 per cent of the volume |
| RM | Récoltant-Manipulant: grower Champagne, exclusively from the producer's own grapes. Only about 6 per cent |
| CM | Coopérative de Manipulation: a cooperative |
| RC | Récoltant-Coopérateur: a grower who has the wine produced at the cooperative |
| MA | Marque d'Acheteur: a buyer's own brand, for instance a supermarket's - the producer stays anonymous |
A rule of thumb: NM means consistency of style across many sites, RM means one place and one handwriting. Taste both on the same day and you have understood Champagne.
Champagne Launois (Le Mesnil-sur-Oger)
The best introduction among the growers, because there is a real visitor programme here: a family business since 1872 in a Grand Cru commune of the Côte des Blancs, with an attached museum of viticulture including presses from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The tour lasts around two hours and costs about 20 euros including three Champagnes - fixed times on weekdays and at weekends, booking only. In autumn there are even hands-on harvest days with a grower's breakfast.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Champagne Tarlant (Œuilly)
For anyone who wants to go deeper: a growing family since 1687, in a panoramic position above the Marne - and a cult address for zero-dosage Champagne. The tour goes through the press house, the vinification cellar, the barrique cellar and the vaulted cellar holding the reserve wines; the Brut Nature Champagnes are poured. If you want to understand what dosage does to a wine, you learn it here. By prior arrangement only, closed during the harvest.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Champagne Paul Déthune (Ambonnay)
The Pinot Noir counterweight to the Côte des Blancs: the family has been in Ambonnay, a Grand Cru commune of the Montagne de Reims, since 1610. The private tour shows the press house, the fermentation cellar with its oak casks, the modern cellar and a 17th-century chalk cellar, and ends with the Brut Grand Cru. Weekdays and Saturday mornings, by appointment only.
Info: Website · Google Maps
How to get appointments: the Comité Champagne's official producer directory lists the growers open to visitors by village (champagne.fr), and the Marne tourist board offers a filter by cru (tourisme-en-champagne.com). Booking platforms with instant confirmation are more convenient but sometimes add a surcharge. Always write a few days ahead - many producers have no reception staff.
Suggested routes
Route 1 - Reims in a day: Taittinger or Pommery in the morning (both on the Colline Saint-Nicaise, the UNESCO core area), lunch in the city centre, then Notre-Dame cathedral in the afternoon - a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the coronation church of the French kings, with Chagall windows in the choir. On Sunday mornings only the entrance area is accessible because of services.
Route 2 - Épernay and the Côte des Blancs: Mercier with the cellar train or Moët on the Avenue de Champagne in the morning, lunch in Épernay, then out to Le Mesnil-sur-Oger in the afternoon for Champagne Launois. That gives you a trading house and a grower on the same day - the most instructive contrast of the trip.
Route 3 - Montagne de Reims: the circuit over the Montagne de Reims measures around 70 kilometres. On the way lies the Phare de Verzenay, a lighthouse in the middle of the vineyards: 101 steps up to a panorama over the slopes, plus a wine museum with modern staging. Open daily from April to September, entry a few euros depending on the combination. Afterwards, on to a grower in Ambonnay or Bouzy.
Important - driving and wine: 0.5 grams per litre, and 0.2 for new drivers in their probationary period - in practice, not a single glass. And a correction to many guidebooks: the requirement to carry a breathalyser was abolished in 2020; a high-visibility vest and a warning triangle remain compulsory. If you want to drink, take the TGV: Paris to Reims Centre takes 45 minutes, and from there Taittinger, Pommery and Veuve Clicquot are reachable on foot or by a short taxi ride. Watch out when booking: the second station, Champagne-Ardenne TGV, is outside town in Bezannes, and the tram from there takes another twenty to thirty minutes.
Restaurants for wine lovers
In the 2026 Michelin Guide, Reims has five starred restaurants holding ten stars between them - exceptional for a city of this size.
Fine dining
L'Assiette Champenoise (Tinqueux near Reims) - three Michelin stars since 2014 under Arnaud Lallement, a family business with an attached hotel. The address for the one grand evening of this trip, so book well ahead. Info: Michelin Guide · Google Maps
Le Parc at Domaine Les Crayères (Reims) - two stars in a château hotel whose name points straight at the chalk pits. Christophe Moret has cooked here since March 2024 and has held the two stars - many guidebooks still name his predecessor. Info: Michelin Guide · Google Maps
Racine (Reims) - two stars under Kazuyuki Tanaka: French produce with a Japanese hand, a purist room looking into a Japanese garden, a few steps from the cathedral. In 2026 the city gained a further two-star house in Arbane, run by Philippe Mille, who shaped Les Crayères for fifteen years before that. Info: Michelin Guide · Google Maps
Le Royal (Champillon) - one star, and the loveliest setting in this selection: a modern building in pale stone, set into the Marne valley like an amphitheatre, exactly between Reims and Épernay. The house sees itself explicitly as an ambassador for the region, and the Champagne list runs correspondingly deep. Info: Michelin Guide · Google Maps
Special
Les Avisés (Avize) - for wine lovers the most emotional address in Champagne: a manor house with ten rooms run by Anselme and Corinne Selosse - the family behind Jacques Selosse, one of the region's most influential growers. The restaurant serves a single fixed menu, and the Michelin Guide singles out the wine list. The decisive point: tastings at Selosse are reserved for hotel guests - to try the wines you have to stay the night. Info: Website · Google Maps
One point worth correcting, because many guides still get it wrong: Le Foch in Reims lost its star in 2024. The house is still listed in the guide and valued for fish and seafood - it just no longer holds a star.
Wine experiences and festivals
- UNESCO World Heritage since 2015: three components were recognised, together representing the whole production process - the historic vineyards of Hautvillers, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, the Colline Saint-Nicaise in Reims with the cellars of Taittinger, Ruinart, Pommery and Veuve Clicquot, and the Avenue de Champagne in Épernay. Over 1,100 hectares have been protected since.
- Avenue de Champagne (Épernay): the most famous wine street in the world - Moët & Chandon, Perrier-Jouët, Mercier, De Castellane and others on a single axis, with many kilometres of cellars beneath. You can simply walk it, with or without a tour.
- Habits de Lumière (December, Épernay): over three days the Avenue de Champagne is lit up with video mapping on the house façades, along with Champagne bars, live performances and fireworks; Saturday is the gourmet day. The strongest argument for a winter trip.
- Phare de Verzenay: a lighthouse in the middle of the vineyards of the Montagne de Reims, with a wine museum and a 360-degree view after 101 steps. Open daily from April to September.
- Route Touristique du Champagne: signposted circuits for drivers - Montagne de Reims (70 km), Côte des Blancs (100 km), Vallée de la Marne (90 km) and others, plus the Côte des Bar in the Aube at 220 kilometres.
Practical tips
Champagne in brief: the three main grape varieties are Chardonnay (finesse, citrus, ageing potential), Pinot Noir (structure and body) and Pinot Meunier (richness, early accessibility). A Blanc de Blancs is made only from white grapes, practically always Chardonnay - the speciality of the Côte des Blancs; a Blanc de Noirs only from red. Millésime means vintage Champagne from a single year; everything else is a blend across several vintages, the house style. And the dosage determines the sweetness: Brut Nature with no added sugar, then Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry, Sec, Demi-Sec. The trap for beginners: Extra Dry is sweeter than Brut. As for the cru system, there are 17 Grand Cru communes; the underlying Échelle des Crus was introduced in 1919 and abolished as a pricing mechanism in 2004, but the designations remain on the label.
The price question - the most important planning tip: a tour at a prestige house easily costs 60 to 90 euros, at a grower 10 to 20. Our recommendation: one big house for the cellar experience, then two or three growers for the wine. You will see chalk cellars nowhere else - but what happens in the glass you learn at the récoltant's.
Taking wine home: within the EU, Champagne for personal use travels freely as long as you carry it yourself. Careful when flying: bottles belong in checked luggage. If you come by car - perfectly feasible from western Germany, for example - buy directly from the grower, where prices are well below retail abroad.
What to buy: a Blanc de Blancs from a récoltant in the Côte des Blancs - it shows what a single village makes of Chardonnay, and at the grower's it costs a fraction of what comparable quality costs from a big house. With it a Brut Nature, if you want to know how Champagne tastes without a sugar correction. And if you are after something genuinely rare: a Coteaux Champenois, the region's still red wine, from Bouzy for instance - you will practically never find it outside France.
And while you're there: Champagne labels are a code of dosage terms, cru designations and those two small letters at the edge. The Grape Guru app scanner untangles it - and tells you whether you have a trading house or a grower in your glass.
Frequently asked questions
What do NM and RM mean on a Champagne label?
At the bottom edge of the label, in small type, are two letters and a registration number. NM stands for Négociant-Manipulant, a trading house that buys in grapes and blends - all the big names. RM stands for Récoltant-Manipulant, grower Champagne made exclusively from the producer's own grapes; it accounts for only around six per cent of the volume. There is also CM for cooperatives and MA for buyer's own brands, behind which the producer stays anonymous.
What does a cellar tour in Champagne cost?
The range is wider than in any other wine region. At growers you pay about 10 to 20 euros, at mid-sized houses such as Mercier or Pommery around 18 to 30 euros, and at prestige houses such as Ruinart or Veuve Clicquot 60 to 90 euros and well beyond. So for the price of a single tour at a top house you can visit four or five growers - the most important planning decision of your trip.
Can you simply drop in on grower Champagne estates?
Only with an appointment. Many récoltants work alone or as a pair and receive visitors by prior arrangement only, including outside high season. You can find appointments through the official producer directory on champagne.fr, through the Marne tourist board or through booking platforms with instant confirmation. During the harvest in August and September many growers are unreachable altogether.
Do you have to carry a breathalyser in your car in France?
No. The requirement was abolished by decree in May 2020 and has not applied since 22 May 2020 - many travel guides are out of date on this. The limit is 0.5 grams per litre, and 0.2 for new drivers in their probationary period, which in practice means not a single glass. A high-visibility vest and a warning triangle remain compulsory.
When is the harvest in Champagne?
These days regularly as early as August. In 2025 picking ran from 19 August to 4 September, with the main start around 25 August - the ninth August harvest in the appellation's history. The exact dates are set commune by commune each year by the Comité Champagne. If you want to visit growers, avoid the harvest; if you want to experience the atmosphere, come precisely then.
Your sommelier for your vacation
Unfamiliar wine list, unknown labels? Simply scan the list or bottle at a restaurant or wine shop – the Grape Guru app instantly tells you which wine is worth it. Free for iOS and Android.
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