Reims Champagne Houses/Taittinger Tour

It makes a difference whether you have a rental car. We chose to take the easy train ride from Paris to Reims, and so we did Mumm's, which was the shortest walk from the Reims train station. It was good.

We visited the historic caves at Moet et Chandon in nearby Reims. Fascinating tour.

We arrived in Reims a few days before our Best of Eastern France Tour in September. In our RS France Tour book we had found a listing for champagne tours with Cris Event Champagne Tours and booked it before we left for France. It was a great choice and a fun afternoon. We were picked up at the train station along with 5 other people, in a clean modern van and driven thru the vineyards, down the Avenue de Champagne in Epernay past the famous champagne houses and visited two small family owned champagne wineries where we learned all about the champagne process and tasted several varieties. If you just want to visit a large champagne house in Reims, I would recommend Pommery Champagne House. We did this as part of our RS Tour and it is quite impressive with its massive underground cellars.

We did Taitinger just a few weeks ago. The tour was good, and we opted for just one tasting. I couldn’t imagine consuming more the day after a transatlantic flight. The major drawback is that the location is pretty far from the city center. We asked about taxis when we arrived, and the staff ordered taxis for anyone who so desired. If Mumm’s is closer; and the price is similar, I’d go for Mumm’s just for that reason.

I took the Taittinger and Martel tours, close to each other and to the Saint-Remi Basilica (which I liked as much, maybe more, than the cathedral. I also took the Mercier tour in Epernay (the most fun). All the tours were interesting with little repetition, since each is more about the history of the family and the winery than the champagne process. Martel was very generous with pourings at the end of the tour, more than the promised 3. Taittinger's tastings are expensive, but to be fair, they pour some of their best wines. If you are a connoisseur, it may be worth the money. You can drink a variety of champagnes in town by the glass.

Tasting to me implies comparing small amounts of various wines; what happens at Taittinger is not a tasting -- you buy a glass of champagne (or two or three) when you buy your ticket. One was as much as we could handle mid day. We loved the Taittinger cellar tour. We only needed one of those in our lives but that was a good one. We ran onto someone on the TGV back to Paris who had after the Taittinger tour walked over to VCP and just walked in and did a classic tasting of several of their wines without a cellar tour. They were enthusiastic about that experience as well and shared their bottle of Champagne with us on the train. There are many cafes near the Cathedral and on the main street that do flights of Champagne if you want a tasting, as well.

While in Reims be sure to visit St. Remy Basilica as well as the Cathedral. ANd if you have time the WWII museum there is worth a visit.

Be sure to make reservations wherever you decide to go early and get your train tickets several months in advance as they cost MUCH less bought when they come on sale -- by a factor of 2 or 3.

The champagne tastings are 1/2 glasses. As I recall (could well be in error), a glass of champagne is 100 ml, while a typical glass of red is 125 m. A tasting is 50 ml. That's what I got in Taittinger.

Thank you everyone for the advice! We're pretty adventurous, so the 30 minute walk won't bother us, plus we wanted to take time going through the town before visiting a champagne house. That's why we decided on Taittinger on our only one to visit.

hi legillott
we did a day trip to reims on the train then a tour in a citroen with a-l-allure-champenoise.fr. a fun tour thru the town, then vineyards, small villages and a champagne cave. we walked the town and stopped at cafe du palais for an appetizer and some great champagne. we liked trying the small named brands that can't be bought here in the states. passing by some of the houses was very crowded so plan B was for us. we also bought train ticket day before, have fun and enjoy.
aloha

We got a full classic flute of champagne at Taittinger on our tour.

OP,
I noticed you mentioned walking around in Reims prior to the cave visit. That's what we did and enjoyed the walking around.

Mumm's has the best wine (according to my French friends). I think that should go into your considerations. Mumm's, as I recall, offered three choices. The lowest price included tasting one wine at the end, the wine was their lower end wine. The medium price gave you a better wine with a pairing. The highest price gave you several tastings. I paid the medium and was really happy with the wine (but couldn't see paying something like 46 euro per bottle).

It's best to have a reservation for your tour. That sounds harder than it is. I'd ask your hotel to call when you are checking into your room. For me, an English tour was booked for about three hours after checking in. I had time to get lunch then walk to the Champagne House.

You can also go into one of the two TI's and they will book tours for you. You can also pick up a map of the town. There's a small one at the train station; the main one is in a side room (separate entrance) of the cathedral.