Get to grips with the Champagne region with our tips on cellar tours, winemakers' B&Bs and bars to visit.
(Photograph: Fulvio Roiter)
Champagne is like no other wine region in France. Although it is the ultimate in bottled glamour, it is doubtful if even most French people have much idea of how champagne is made – the almost feudal relationship between the rural growers and the luxury champagne houses, the difference between, say, a champagne that is an "assemblage" and a Blanc des Noirs, or a "millesime" vintage and an NV, the anglicised non-vintage. While the famous international brands demand a hefty fee for a tour of their cellars, there is an increasing number of smaller vignerons who receive visits from the public, and don't charge for tastings, while winemakers are also opening their own B&Bs all over the region. The nearest vineyards are only an hour from Paris, and a few days stopping off at small cellars, meeting the people who make the bubbly, is the perfect way to begin to understand the mysterious world of champagne.
Winemakers to visit
Champagne Tribaut, Hautvillers
Ghislain and Marie-José Tribaut are pioneers when it comes to wine tourism in the champagne vineyards as they have been welcoming visitors since 1975. Their winery is just outside Épernay, and the Tribauts are known as "Récoltant Manipulant", which means they cultivate and harvest the grapes, then sell on a large part to the grandes maisons de champagne such as Krug or Taittinger. Enough is left over to produce 150,000 bottles themselves, and tastings are held either indoors in a cosy salon, or outside on a sunny terrace with an endless panorama of geometric vineyards. While Ghislain starts opening bottles – as quietly as possible, because strange as it may seem, winemakers here avoid flamboyant cork popping – Marie-José brings out delicious nibbles like gougères, light puff pastry filled with gruyère. Their very dry Rose Brut costs €16.50, while the Cuvée de Réserve is excellently priced at €14.80, and there is no charge for the tasting. Ring in advance and they will also be happy to arrange a tour of the cellar to explain how champagne is made, and many guests have ended up returning here to work during the harvests.
• champagne.g.tribaut.com, 88 rue d'Eguisheim, +33 3 2659 4057
Champagne Fallet Dart, Charly sur Marne
Only 80km from Paris, and well outside the historic heart of Champagne, the sign outside the Fallet Dart cellars proudly announces that the family has been vignerons since 1610, centuries before this part of the Marne Valley was graciously admitted into the cosy world of the official champagne appellation in 1937. They may have only been making bubbly for the last three generations, but the present vigneron, Paul Dart, is innovative and ambitious, and although they have a large estate of 20 hectares, nothing is sold on to the grandes maisons, and they produce roughly 180,000 bottles a year with a staggering 1m ageing in their cellars. In this part of Champagne, producers are generally more open to visits and free tastings, and Fallet Dart arrange cellar tours for those calling in advance. Prices are reasonable, ranging from €13.90 (£12) for a Cuvee de Reserve to €18.70 for a Vintage Brut. Don't miss trying other local specialities, Ratafia, a delicious but lethal apéritif, and Fin de Champagne, produced in the same style as a cognac.
• champagne-fallet-dart.fr, 2 rue des Clos du Mont, Drachy, +33 3 2382 0173
Champagne Gardet, Chigny-les-Roses
The house of Gardet has been around since 1895, and although they may not be in the same league as the likes of Mumm, Bollinger and Veuve Clicquot this is very much an old-school champagne, which supplies both the House of Commons and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). There are 290 of these grandes maisons, officially termedNégociant Manipulant, who account for two-thirds of the production of all champagne, including 90% of what is exported. Gardet owns a mere five hectares of its own vineyards but buys grapes from another 100, producing a million bottles a year. To organise a visit you have to call or email in advance, they reply with advice on accommodation and eating out, and then visitors are received at their headquarters in an ornate art-nouveau glass veranda filled with tropical plants. The visit of the cuverie, where the wine is made, and then the labyrinth of cellars takes over an hour, followed by a tasting. There is an €8 charge for the tour, but it is worth it. Champagne prices are higher than at a simple vigneron, starting at €20.50 for the Brut Tradition.
• champagne-gardet.com, 13 rue Georges Legros, +33 3 2603 4203
Champagne Aspasie, Brouillet
Vistors to the Aspasie winery are sure of a warm welcome as this 400-year-old farmhouse is well-off the usual champagne route. Paul-Vincent Ariston describes himself as an "artisan vigneron". He bubbles with enthusiasm, and if you let him take you on a tour of the champagne process – everything from the old-fashioned remoulage method of turning the bottles during fermentation, to the dégorgement when the sediment is frozen in the neck of the bottle and spectacularly popped out before final bottling – then you are in for a whole afternoon. Of course, you could always stay the night, as he has three comfortable guest rooms at €65, as well as his own eco-museum. The visit and tastings are free of charge, while his Brut Tradition is priced at €14.50. But Paul has firm ideas about winemaking, and what is interesting is to try his Brut de Fût, that has been aged in oak barrels, and the totally unique Brut Cépages d'Antan, which uses none of the usual champagne grapes but three local varieties – Le Petit Meslier, L'Arbanne and Pinot Blanc – that were grown here centuries before champagne was popularised.
• champagneaspasie.com, 4 Grande Rue, +33 3 2697 4934
Bistrots & Bars a Vins
Au 36, Hautvillers
Before stopping off at a winemaker and his cellar, it is worth a detour to the idyllic village of Hautvillers, known as the birthplace of champagne. On Rue Dom Pérignon, just by the abbey where 300 years ago, the Bénedectine monk is said to have invented the process of double fermentation that creates champagne's unique bubbles (although, sacre bleu, it now seems it was discovered sometime earlier by a perfidious Englishman, Christopher Merret), is Au 36, a cool designer bar that doubles as a boutique and serves food too. It stocks 50 different champagnes, and for a case of six, the price is exactly the same as directly from the winemaker, while for a single bottle, €1 is added. Most of the champagne everyone drinks is an "assemblage" of three very different grapes, and the bar's young enthusiastic owner, Mathieu Valade conducts a fascinating tasting of three special vintages, each made with 100% of only one of these different grapes – Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir – explaining their individual characteristics. They also serve a delicious gourmet plate of regional specialities – Chaource cheese, Reims ham, lentils and pink macarons. The food and wine tastings cost €15 each.
• au36.net, 38 rue Dom Pérignon, +33 3 2651 5837
Bistrot La Madelon, Mancy
The big thing lacking in the champagne vineyards are old-fashioned rural bistrots serving a hearty plat du jour. There are plenty of elegant gourmet dining rooms, but you'll be lucky to get out spending less then €50 at lunch, especially if you are tempted to try some of the local champagnes. Le Madelon is the brilliant exception. Situated in the heart of the Côte des Blancs vineyards, this offers the best lunch menu around: a buffet of starters, main dish like a tender slow-cooked jarret de porc, cheese, dessert, coffee and wine (though not champagne!), all for €13.50. The owner, Didier Blanchard, has been here since 2006 and has also turned the bistrot into a museum for the "poilus" soldiers of the first world war, exhibiting an amazing collection of memorabilia dedicated to the terrible battles that occurred here in the Marne. In the evening, the cuisine is more gastronomic: imagine escargots au champagne, but a five-course meal is still only priced at €26, with a wine list featuring 30 champagnes of local vignerons from the village.
• bistrot-madelon.com, 7 Grande Rue, +33 3 2653 1418
Vineyard B&Bs
Parva Domus, Epernay
Épernay is the capital of Champagne, a town encircled by vineyards, sitting beneath 30km of cellars storing millions of bottles, and home to many of the most famous names – Moët & Chandon, Pol Roger, Perrier-Jouët. Most have their sumptuous headquarters along the stately Avenue de Champagne, which Churchill named "the world's most drinkable address", and that is also where Claude and Ginette Rimaire have opened a charming B&B. They are both well past retirement age – locals call them "mamie et papy" – but they totally spoil clients, and have beautifully renovated five elegant guest rooms of a grand 200-year-old mansion. The Rimaires, like seemingly everyone in Champagne, own several small "parcels" of vines, producing just 1,200 bottles. They serve a free flûte on arrival, and a souvenir bottle of their Extra Brut, costs €20. Below the house is a maze of cellars, running for a kilometre, and Claude is always keen to take visitors down, though there are no bottles of champagne anymore.
• parvadomusrimaire.com, 27 avenue de Champagne, Épernay, +33 3 2632 4074, double room with breakfast €90
Les Barbotines, Bouzy
Some champagne marriages are made in heaven, and when Jean-Louis Bonnaire (champagne-bonnaire.com) tied the knot with Marie-Louise Clouet (champagne-paul-clouet.com) he gave wine lovers the chance to sample both his own Côte des Blancs vintages and her Côte des Noirs champagnes. Then, 10 years ago, Marie-Louise converted an imposing maison de maitre vigneron into a smart B&B with five individually-furnished rooms. Guests have the run of the whole house with salons and a TV lounge, plus a big breakfast in the morning. While you can try the family wines at Les Barbotines, a better plan is to go over to the main winery in Cramant, which offers all visitors a free tasting, and a tour of the cellars, if you ring first for an appointment. Bouzy is one of the key champagne villages with its wines classified as a Premier Cru. The pinot noir grape from here is also used for the local red wine, Côteaux Champenois, known here as Bouzy Rouge, which may not be on the same level as a Burgundy but is well worth trying.
• lesbarbotines.com, 1 Place André Tritant, +33 3 2657 0731, double room €98 B&B
Regional Specialities
La Cave Aux Coquillages, Fleury la Riviere
Patrice Legrand cultivates four hectares of grapes that he sells to the local Coopérative winery, and also produces 20,000 bottles a year of his own Legrand-Latour champagne. But he has another passion, paleontology, and has embarked on a crazy mission to present the geological conditions that create the unique minerality of champagne along with the incredible heritage of fossils lying beneath the vines, that date back to when this whole region was covered by a tropical sea. Since 1997, Patrick has been digging into the rock face adjoining his rambling farmhouse, and has so far excavated 250 metres. He has discovered nothing less than a goldmine of exotic fossils. These are displayed in a series of educational alcoves along the tunnels, open to the public since last year as La Cave aux Coquillages. At the end of the tour, visitors arrive in a bar à champagne, where Patrick's champagne is on sale. Three rooms of his farmhouse are also a B&B, priced at €68 for a double. The one-and-a-half hour tour costs €8.50, including a flûte of champagne.
• lacaveauxcoquillages.fr, 39 rue du Bourg de Vesle, +33 3 2658 3643
Pre En Bulles, Trépail
Trépail is a village whose vignerons are a bit out of the ordinary. In a region where organic wines are rare, Daniel Leclapart makes biodynamic champagne and still uses a horse to work his vineyards. Sylvie Gérard-Maizieres grew up with a father was not at all keen that a female should take over the production, so she slowly bought her own parcels of vines, selling grapes to the likes of Moët & Chandon and making her own champagne, before papa relented and let her take over the family estate. But Sylvie is a woman looking for challenges, and she invested heavily to open Pré en Bulles, an innovative boutique museum dedicated to champagne. Apart from organising art exhibitions, jazz concerts and cooking courses, she has created an inventive 12 tableaux theatre of robot marionettes that explain in layman's terms the a-z of champagne's history and the secret of its production. The one-hour spectacle costs €7, and afterwards, everyone heads for the tasting room to try her champagne. The vigneronne also offers accommodation in her three-room B&B.
• pre-en-bulles.com, 2 rue du Stade, +33 3 2653 5000
Further information: champagne.fr. To get around the vineyards, hire a car through carrentals.co.uk
Source: The Guardian, includes full set of photos
