Everywhere else in Champagne three grapes are blended, and what reaches your glass is the result of a decision. Here there is only one. Along some twenty kilometers of east-facing slope south of Épernay, almost nothing but chardonnay is planted, and the chalk sits so close to the surface that you can see it between the rows. From one village to the next, four kilometers apart, the same grape does not give the same wine. This is the day that explains the word terroir without anyone having to say it.
Chardonnay covers roughly three tenths of the Champagne vineyard, according to the Comité Champagne. In a blend it brings the tension and the line, while pinot noir and meunier put the flesh around it. A blanc de blancs is the same wine without that flesh: one hundred per cent chardonnay, and nothing left to rescue an average year or an ordinary plot.
It is also the grape that ages best here. If the grower opens a bottle of ten or fifteen years in front of you, it is not a curiosity to finish the visit with: it is his argument, and he is waiting to see your face.
The Côte des Blancs runs south from Épernay for some twenty kilometers, facing the rising sun. Six of its villages are classed grand cru and several others premier cru. That ranking no longer sets the price of the grapes the way it did last century, but it has stayed in the growers’ vocabulary, and they still use it to place themselves against one another.
What you will hear on the spot, and can check in the glass: from one village to the next, the same grape on the same chalk gives neither the same acidity nor the same length. The whole day rests on that demonstration, made in order, with the wines set side by side.
A tasting on its own proves nothing. What makes you understand is tasting two wines that differ in exactly one respect. The day is built for that, in this order.
The top of the slope gives broader, rounder wines, the bottom straighter ones, and on paper the two look identical: same grape, same chalk, a few kilometers apart. It is the easiest comparison to hear, which is why the day starts there.
With a single grower, two plots three hundred meters apart, vinified the same way, poured side by side. This is where terroir stops being a sales word: either the difference is audible or it is not, and you judge for yourself.
Chardonnay is the grape that ages best here. When the grower has kept older bottles, he opens them: the same wine at three years and at twelve is the comparison people remember longest.
We do not force the third visit. A day in which you truly understood two growers is worth more than one in which you saw three at a run.
In Reims, in Épernay, or at your hotel in the vineyard. The road leaves the Montagne de Reims, crosses Épernay and arrives at the top of the slope: from there you take in the shape of the hillside and the exposure that decides everything.
Someone who receives you in his own house, not a salaried guide. The cellar, the vats, then four or five cuvées, at least one of them from the village itself. This is the reference the rest of the day will lean on.
Allow around €30 to €60 per person for the visit and tasting, depending on the house and the format. We give you the exact amount, house by house, before you confirm the day.
A local table, chosen because it pours wines from the slope by the glass and because the conversation can carry on there. We book it, you settle it.
This is where the day turns. Same grape, another commune, another gradient, and the wine changes shape in the glass. If you kept track of the morning, the comparison makes itself; if not, your driver has been keeping notes for you.
Same principle: the house’s own price, quoted in advance, paid on the day.
Depending on the hour and on your stamina, either a third grower in another village or, with one of the first two, two plots from the same village three hundred meters apart. The second option is the more telling, and it is usually what people who came for this ask for.
Dropped at your hotel or at the station. Anything bought during the day travels in the boot; you have carried nothing.
The cost of each visit is given to you in writing before you confirm. We take no commission on what you pay the houses.
A little, yes, and this is the only one of our days where we say so. It is built for people who already know they prefer blanc de blancs, or who want to understand why. For a first visit to Champagne we will steer you towards another day, and we will be straightforward about it.
Because these growers receive very few people at a time and their availability changes from one week to the next. Promising a name before we have your date would be promising something we do not control. You get the names and the prices in writing before you confirm, and you are free to say no.
Most growers receive by appointment, Tuesday to Saturday, and rarely on a Sunday. Give us your date: we check before committing you to anything, and if it does not work we say so immediately.
Yes, and it is often the point: many of these cuvées never leave the region. The car stays with you all day, so you can buy at the first stop without carrying anything.
There are no monumental cellars, no staging, no boutique. You are received in a working cellar, often by the person who made the wine, and you taste things that would not be poured for you elsewhere. Less spectacle, more conversation.
Yes. About an hour and a half of road each way; we collect you in the morning and you are back the same evening. The supplement is priced with the day, with no surprise on arrival.
Give us the day, your hotel and the number of people. You get back the confirmed times, the name of each grower and the price of each visit, usually within two hours.
★★★★★ 5.0 on Tripadvisor · 3 reviews
VTC Reims is an excellent car service for the Champagne region. I contacted them on the plane to France and received very fast response from Louis. It must’ve been middle of the night for them and yet they were prompt and booked my priva…
I hosted a group with private transfer from Paris to Champagne and also travel to vineyards all over Champagne. First class service by Cyril and his team. Beautiful vehicles and willing to accommodate some late changes in our schedule. I…
On time. Efficient. Perfect service.
Will absolutely use this company again. Appreciated the communication and service.
Mohamed was waiting for us at the airport and he dropped us off right outside the door of our accommodation in Reims. He was an excellent driver and the journey was very smooth. It was so much more pleasant and convenient than traveling…
Cyril was reliable. Was early. Waiting for us at our hotel. Very courteous. Provided local knowledge and great conversation in either French or English. Got us safely at the airport in plenty of time. Great safe driver.
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