Each city is home to scores of Champagne houses, including some of the largest and oldest. Below Reims are 250 kilometres of historical chalk-hewn cellars. Épernay boasts no fewer than 100 kilometres of underground cellars. Tours of Champagne houses usually include a walk underground.
Appointments at most Champagne houses in Reims or Épernay are recommended and often required, so it is advisable to plan at least one or two visits in advance of travel. A tour price is about the same as a glass of wine in a bar, and the reward is a walking tour of underground history: caverns dug by Romans; small remnants of chapels that served those seeking refuge during the region’ s many conflicts; millions of bottles of Champagne resting according to regulation; and at the end of the tour, a glass of the house bubbly.
Appointments are easy to make through the website of the Champagne house; English is among the many languages available for tours.
Between the two towns, stretching out into the open countryside of vineyards, are dozens of Champagne villages. The Marne department has hospitably organized the recognizable Route touristique du Champagne to make an easy matter of driving alongside some of the most prized vineyards in the world. One of these routes, the D26 just outside of Reims, skirts along the northern boundary of the Montagne de Reims Park through the village of Ludes, home of Ployez-Jacquemart Champagne. This excellent small house offers a peaceful and beautiful bed and breakfast as an alternative to a city hotel. Along the southeastern edge of Montagne de Reims
Clockwise from top left: The gently rolling hills of the Champagne region; a long staircase down into the chalk caves of Veuve Clicquot( photo courtesy Veuve Clicquot); Champagne bottles resting on their lees in underground chalk cellars( photo by Carol Fletcher)
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