Épernay Champagne: best Champagne houses to visit in Épernay and Reims!

In the middle of the French Ardennes, an area where the subsoil consists of a thick layer of lime chalk and fertile soil, lies the Champagne area. It’s the perfect basis for growing grapes! According to the stories, Dom Perignon invented the Champagne in 1688, by applying a second fermentation, which creates bubbles. This delicious drink got so popular so that currently there are 15700 different Champagnes, from the 200 Champagne villages of this region. There are over three hundred different Champagne houses and part of them can be visited for a tasting or sometimes for a tour of the wine cellars. Especially the cellars of the house De Castellane are very impressive: six kilometres of wine cellars where thousands of bottles of Champagnes are being stored.

In this blog, we will talk about Champagne houses in the northern region of the Champagne region. Are you interested in the southern region of the Champagne? Then read this blog on the Côte des Bar.

Map of the Champagne region:

Below you will find a map of France with the location of the champagne region.

A visit to a Champagne house often means a small tasting and sometimes a guided tour. Generally, you pay for the tasting and/or the tour an amount varying between € 10 and € 30 pp. With some houses, you get the amount of the tasting back after buying several bottles of Champagne. The prices for a bottle of Champagne start from € 20 and can go up to several hundreds of euros. So take a well-filled wallet with you.

It might take some time, but definitely worth it: finding out which Champagne houses in Épernay you want to visit. We have done our best to put down a list of the best champagne houses to visit (in Épernay and the surrounding area)!

Visiting Champagne with a baby:

With our 7-month-old baby, we will visit the northern champagne region again in June 2023. This time we stay in Hautvillers in a spacious apartment with its own kitchen and several bedrooms. We have a wonderful time and enjoy our favorite drink to the fullest. With a baby you are much less flexible in visiting champagne houses and that is why we deliberately choose Hautvillers, here several champagne houses are close to each other.

Tip: nowadays you really need to make an appointment in advance at most champagne houses. We visit more than eight houses, but we can hardly visit any of them without an appointment. So really make an appointment!

The house of De Castellane immediately stands out because of the beautiful buildings in Art Nouveau style and the large tower that can be seen from all over Epernay. Not only from the outside, but the building is also beautiful, when we are welcomed inside by the nice Dutch guide Steffie, she takes us through an enormous wine barrel into the impressive wine cellars. Steffie tells us about the history of the house: founded in 1895 by the viscount Florens de Castellane.

Florens got a lot of help from his cousin Boni de Castellane, a man from the high society of Paris who, in addition to his knowledge of Champagne, also had a talent for Marketing. For example, he designed the red and white cross that is characteristic of De Castellane Champagne. Nowadays De Castellane is part of the Laurent-Perrier group.

Wine cellars over 6 kilometres long!

During our tour, we walk through parts of the wine cellars, which are over 6 kilometres long in total. Everywhere around you, there are thousands of bottles, sometimes bottles, sometimes already packed. A bottle of Champagne must age at least 2 years before it has the right flavour at De Castellane and sometimes even stays more than 10 years in the cellars. Steffie shows us, among other things, how the residue from the second fermentation is collected and then removed from the bottle.

After this, the bottle can be labelled and packed. During our tour, we walk through the factory where we can see how all of this is done. After the tour, we taste the famous Brut and the Brut Rosé, after which we decide to buy some bottles. A visit to Champagne The Castellane is not complete without climbing the tower. It gives you a beautiful view all over Epernay and the surroundings. Interested in this tour and tasting at De Castellane? Check the opening hours on the website and contact them in advance to be sure of a spot.

Champagne Giraud is a relatively small family house from 1625, a hidden gem in Ay, a place just 10 minutes from Épernay. We were given a guided tour by the spontaneous Melissa, a lady with lots of knowledge and humour, who told us about the house, the Champagnes and the production process. The owner, Claude Giraud, attaches great importance to high quality and modernization of the production process. For example, since January 2018, a ‘zero residue of pesticide’ label has been used, they are no longer working with steel fermentation tanks, but with oak casks and next to that they have a tree-planting project in the Argonne forest. All this results in a limited collection of delicious Champagnes.

After the tour, we taste three different Champagnes, rising from light to increasingly heavier Champagnes. We buy a bottle of the Esprit Nature Brut, delicious light Champagne that is perfect for the summer. Besides the Champagnes, a visit to this house is also very nice if you like art. They have a big art collection, both modern and classical art with as absolute eyecatcher the large paper tree that refers to the oak where the wine barrels are made from. Do you want to visit this house? This only goes by appointment, so be on time! Click here for the location of this champagne house in Ay.

The Avenue de Champagne is located in the heart of Epernay. A beautiful street which you definitely should visit. On this street, there are all kinds of beautiful big Champagne boutiques where you can buy champagne and sometimes taste them. I definitely recommend you to go inside some boutiques, but don’t expect too much. There are mainly big brands located here and we found it very commercial.

The boutiques we visited were Collard-Picard and Moët et Chandon. At Collard-Picard we ordered the Champagne tasting menu in the courtyard. The Champagne was nice, but it was a pity that the ladies who served us the Champagne, obviously just spoke their pre-studied tekst about every Champagne. The building of Moët et Chandon was beautiful to see, huge and very impressive. Inside it was a bit like a Victoria Secrets store. Merchandise products were everywhere. From bath towels to beach bags and standing chairs. Other champagne boutiques that are located here are Mercier, Pol Roger, Champagne Boizel and Perrier-Jouët.

The above mentioned Champagne houses and boutiques are all located close to Epernay. However, perhaps you have Reims as a base from which you would like to explore the champagne region. Do keep in mind that Reims is a big city and there are only champagne boutiques (shops from a certain brand which will sell the champagne) in the city. This is not the place where the champagne is made. Of course, there are many different champagne tours departing from Reims. So, therefore, you will find below some Champagne houses and tours which you can do from Reims! We have not been able to visit them yet, but according to other people we spoke with, they are very nice to do and visit!

Reims Champagne: Visit the town Passy-Grigny in the middle of the Marne Valley.

This tour, departing from Reims, takes you to the town of Passy-Grigny, where you will learn more about the production of champagne, visit a champagne house and have a tasting of three different champagnes. Click here for more information.

You are in France, so what is more idyllic than staying in a beautiful castle? Unfortunately, I have to shake you awake, accommodation in this area is not cheap and often fully booked months already. So be early with booking your accommodations. Below are my tips for nice hotels in or just outside of Épernay.