On Avenue de Champagne....

Sorry, I day tripped from Reims. The Mercier tour was a lot of fun - but in July it's probably crowded. Maybe the first tour of the day won't be. The TI is very good.

I posted on your other thread - check out Hotel Jean Moet. Small, quiet, great breakfast, great staff, nice champagne bar where you can try smaller local champagnes. I would stay there again

Thanks, I keep checking for the a Hotel Jean Moët, but not showing on any site. I emailed the property to check for accommodations. Thank you for the advice. I will need to read up on Reims. I didn’t realize Vive Clicquot was there. We will go there as well, for sure.

I see you need to make “reservations “ to taste. I’m wondering on how to “pre plot” those or just wait until we get there. For sure, we want to go to Moët.

The hotel, we booked, is quite nice and well reviewed. It is on the Avenue, close to town.

I've both day-tripped Reims and driven to Reims and Epernay. I can't imagine not going to Reims and visiting Taittinger and Veuve on a champagne tour. One of the highlights of my several trips to France. We didn't overnight, but went on to Alsace.

Thanks!

Did you have to make a reservation at Vive and Taittinger? Are they right in Reims or outskirts? I will be doing a lot more research, but we decided to add a 4th night in Champagne. We will have a car, so we can do day trips.

I’m having a hard time contacting the owners of our hotel. I’ve heard they speak mostly french, so I will try again with google translate and hope for the best.

I’m also reading about making reservations at the tasting houses. Did you do that before you got there?

merci

Epernay-Reims is best by train. That also means no parking worries and no teetotalling (remember, the blood alcohol limit in France is only 0.05 - in the US it's 0.08. Generally a "taste" (aka flight) is a 1/2 half flute of champagne. On many tours, you choose how many flights you want (and pay accordingly). As I recall the basic Mercier tour was 3 flights, Tattinger was 1. Martel poured a lot of wines, but much smaller amounts, what would be normal tastings at a winery, so it's hard to know how much you're drinking there. There were generous.

I took the tours at Tattinger and Martel. Both are in the city, about 3 minutes' walk from each other and the lovely basilica, but a good 20 minute walk from the cathedral.

All the tours are similar in that they explain the champagne method, but that's a fairly small part of the tour. You learn a lot about the history of the winery and the family, and tour the caves (BTW they are cold so take jackets), so every tour is different and interesting. Most of the tours are in Reims where it mostly all began. Today Epernay is the center and most of the champagne houses are big volume and very modern.

As far as reservations... I think I made them on line the night before but I do recall walking and scheduling a tour for later that day.

My wife and I just returned from a visit to Reims and Epernay (mostly for champagne tasting). The tours are basically similar (with the exception of Mercier) and just take you through their cave system and explain how their wines are made. Mercier is different in that you ride an electric train for your tour rather than walking, which is interesting. All of the major houses source their grapes from across Champagne, so their processes are more or less the same. (They will, of course, explain to you why their champagne is better than their neighbors or the small producers.) I would pick two or three major houses that you already like or ones you think you might like. I would highly recommend that you look at each champagne houses website to see what tours are offered. Usually it is easy to change the site from French to English and I found the reservation systems generally easy. As someone has already said, there will be variations on the numbers of flights offered and the quality of the champagne in the flight. If your goal is to try champagnes that you have not had or don't normally buy $100 (or more) champagnes plan accordingly. Many of the major houses do not have tasting rooms and you must do a tour in order to taste. If you still want to try a particular champagne, but don't feel like another cave tour I would suggest simply going to one of the several local wine shops and buying a bottle or two to drink in your room. You will probably find it is cheaper than the tour.

I would also give some of the small producers a try. Unless you are highly knowledgeable about champagne, you are unlikely to have heard much about small producers, who by definition neither produce nor export much champagne. There is an excellent tasting room in Reims called "Tresors de Champagne" where you can try champagnes from numerous small producers and design you own flight based on your champagne preferences. There is a tasting room/wine bar in Epernay called "C Comme" which also has a number of these small producers.

Driving distance from Reims to Epernay is about 45 minutes and the champagne houses are mostly located outside of downtown Reims. In Epernay, you will not really need a car unless you would like to explore the countryside or visit one or more of the small producers. Lastly, regarding drinking and driving, you are doing the tours and tastings to learn about the champagne not to see how much you can drink. There is no legal requirement in France that you finish every glass that is poured for you.

Enjoy!

thanks “hat” from Colorado!

Did you stay in Reims or Epernay? We are staying in Epernay,
for 4 nights, so, 3 days. I know we want to see Vueve Clicquot (drank some last night, Happy New Year!), and Moët. I must say, I’m not sure of the other French Champagne houses, as here, in Sonoma, CA, we have many “champagne” houses and they sound similar to their French counterparts.

I’m hoping to spend one day in Reims and taste there, and eat in Reims, and then one full day on the Avenue de Champagne, and perhaps “Hauterville”. I know there are so many. champagne houses that it’s hard to see them all (living in wine country, it’s impossible).

I have so many months to plan!

Thank you for your advice!

So you must have taken the Korbel tour at least once. The tours in Reims are similar (history of the family, the winery . . . ), except you spend most of the tour in the caves including the displays. When I lived in NoCal, I was an ABC drinker, so I liked Mercier's wines best - they used the least % of chardonnay. Tattinger's tastings were more expensive than the others, but they poured their better wines. I didn't try, but it looked like at least some of the houses in Epernay offered their wines by the glass. You'll love walking the Avenue de Champagne, just to see the names.

In addition to the cathedral and basilica in Reims, there is an interesting WWII museum - Musée de la Reddition

We stayed at the Hotel Jean Moet in Epernay this past May and would recommend it. The room was spacious, clean, quiet, and comfortable. Breakfast was good and the location is excellent - just around the corner from the Avenue de Champagne. We spend a morning just walking around the town before taking a half-day (about 4 hours) afternoon tour with Ay Champagne Experience. Isabelle (the owner) picked us up at our hotel and drove us to two champagne houses for a brief tour (at one) and tasting (at both) before going on to Hautvillers to visit the Abbey of Dom Perignon. It was a very enjoyable experience tooling around the beautiful countryside and visiting with the producers while sampling numerous champagnes. Isabelle's father was in the business (I think he grew grapes for Moet) and her English was excellent. She also does customized tours if you are looking for something else.

We also spent a day in Reims, visiting the Surrender Museum, the Cathedral, and Taittinger for a tour and tasting. Did the entire day on foot; stayed at the Hotel de la Paix (a Best Western), which was very nice (would definitely recommend it also).

thanks Robert, and thanks to all the replies so far.

Robert, did you have a car? You’re the second recommendation for the Hotel Jean Moët. They don’t have private parking , and public parking is like €35/day.....ouch...

Someone mentioned the train and then rent a car in Reims, but we are going on a big grand tour (4 weeks) of France, and we need to rent at CDG airport.

We do arrive early, so we could stay one night in Reims. I want to go to Vueve Clicquot, just because I’m very familiar, but others too.

The “Ay Tour” sounds wonderful, but is that something we could possibly “mimic”in our own car? I’m not against a tour, as you do get a much clearer vision and more knowledge from a guide.

Thank you for the referral in Reims too.

Happy New Year!

Howard

Hotel Jean Moet does not have parking but I don't remember parking being $35 a day. You can find parking on the street overnight for free you just have to get up and move it in the AM. There is parking lot like 2 blocks away. Parking should not be a deal breaker IMO

Howard -- We stayed in Epernay (but in an Airbnb). The Airbnb did not have parking, but we found little trouble parking on the street. The town uses an app to let you pay for parking and it will send you a reminder when your time is up. My recollection is that the daily parking rate was about 9 Euros (but I was not in charge of payment). If you are driving to Reims or around the countryside then you have little need for parking in Epernay.

Because you will have a car, it is not really necessary to stay in Reims to see the champagne houses there. I would have liked to have seen Veuve Clicquot, but there was no availability when we were there. Their only public tour is not inexpensive, but you get to try some of their best champagnes. It seems that most of the houses that have multiple "tours" the physical tour is the same, the difference in cost being related to the cost of the champagne served after the tour. We enjoyed our tour of Taittinger (one of the middle ones), but were able to get a small taste of the Comte de Champagnes and ended up ordering six bottles. You should assume that each tour will be at least an hour and a half.

If you are looking for a place for dinner in Reims, I would recommend Le Millinaire. The menus are in French, but they are more that willing to explain each item. If you are looking for a nice dinner in Epernay, I would recommend Les Berceaux. We had lunch there shortly before we left and if you go I would highly recommend the pheasant soup for your entrée (starter).

Hautvillers is a relatively short drive from Epernay and a very picturesque town. In addition to the Abbey and the tomb of Dom Perignon, there are a number of tasting rooms for different champagnes located there.

I belong to several Napa/Sonoma wine clubs and have been to all of the champagne houses in the area except Domaine Chandon (owned by Moet et Chandon). Schramsberg's tour is the most similar to the type of tour you will get in Champagne. As far as I know Mumm Napa, Iron Horse and Domaine Carneros (owned by Taittinger) have only tasting areas. On the Avenue of Champagne you will get a bit of both, although some of the houses are not open to the public (Pol Roger).

There are hundreds of champagne producers, big and small, so you won't get to see them all on this trip. But there's no harm trying. :)

Chris

If Veuve Clicquot tours are full just ask in the tasting room to taste - the folks that work in there are quite knowledgeable .
Boizel was my favorite on the AC. I brought home a couple splits in my suitcase.

hey hey howard
you'll have a great trip in the champagne area. we took a day trip train from paris to reims for a tour in a CV2 thru reims and the countrysides.
we stopped by cafe du palais in town for appetizers and champagne. wanted to tatste diiferent champagnes from local wineries/caves of the area, not what i can buy here. it was a fun outing with us three senior ladies and one 31 year old daughter. had a great time along with appetizers, then walked to town center for our tour. mext time i will want to walk the "avenue of champagnes" of local champagnes.
if you like champagne that much, we stayed in venice and did a prosecco tour on prosecco road outside treviso, fun fun tour. if interested and plans for venice area, let me know and i'll send you info.
aloha

Howard: We didn’t have a car. As for doing your own “Ay tour”, I would imagine that you could contact champagne producers directly to see if you need a reservation for a visit. Of course, the advantage of having a local guide is the knowledge and connections (access) they have. One other option is to do the driving but hire a local champagne expert like Isabelle to design your tour and ride with you.