A bottle of champagne spends years lying in the dark on its own sediment. Then comes the day someone opens it for the first time, purely to get that sediment out, and decides with a few grams of sugar whether it will be called brut, extra brut, or nothing at all. The two gestures take about a minute, and almost nobody has ever watched them happen. Half a day with a grower, to see both done by hand.
While the wine takes its bubbles inside the bottle, the yeasts work, then die, and settle. That deposit has to come out. First it is walked down into the neck by turning the bottles a fraction at a time, upside down, on wooden racks: this is riddling.
Then comes disgorging. The usual method dips the neck in an icy bath, so the deposit sets into a small plug of ice that fires out on its own when the cap is lifted. The older method, à la volée, uses no cold at all. The grower rights the bottle, opens it, lets the deposit leave with the foam, and closes the neck with his thumb. He loses a little wine, he gets no second attempt, and that is the one you will watch.
Disgorging leaves a gap in the bottle. It is filled with a little wine, with or without sugar added: that is the dosage. The quantity is tiny, and it is what gives the champagne its name.
Between an extra brut and a brut there are only a few grams per litre — across a 75 cl bottle, about one sugar cube. That is all, and yet nobody confuses the two once they have tasted them side by side. Which is exactly what you will do: the same wine undosed, then dosed.
The thresholds are set by European regulation, in grams of sugar per litre. Once you have them in mind, a champagne list reads differently.
The times below are the afternoon version. In the morning everything shifts: we collect you around 9 am and you are back for lunch.
From your hotel, in Reims or in Épernay. The road leaves the city, crosses the ridge and drops into the vineyard. This is when we explain what you are about to see, so that the vocabulary is already in place by the time the grower starts talking.
The cellar, the riddling racks, the bottles lying on their sediment, then the disgorging done in front of you, by hand. After that, the comparison: the wine with no dosage at all, then the cuvées as they are sold. This is a small private welcome, not a group tour, and questions belong in it.
In the region of €60 per person, paid on the day. There is also a house in Reims where you hold the bottle and disgorge it yourself, at around €120 per person: tell us, and we will book that one instead.
A viewpoint over the vines on the way back, or a stop to take a few bottles home. You decide; the car is there and you carry nothing.
Dropped at your hotel, or straight at the station if you are leaving the same evening. Give us your train and we build the half-day around it.
The exact amount is given to you in writing before you confirm. We take no commission on what you pay the house.
No. This is the one we recommend to people who have been drinking champagne for years without ever seeing what happens at the end of the process. Everything is shown; nothing is assumed.
It is a manual gesture performed by the grower himself, so it depends on his availability and on what is in his cellar that week. We ask for it in writing when we book and pass you his answer before you pay. If it cannot be done that day, you know then, not on the morning itself.
It is drunk straight away, which is rather the point: nobody is going to re-cork it for keeping. You can of course leave with the cuvées you liked, and the car is there to carry them.
Up to seven in the van. Growers receive small numbers at a time and that is precisely what makes this worth doing: above six or seven, tell us at the outset and we will check capacity before confirming anything.
Yes, and it is the combination we like best: the blending workshop in the morning, the disgorging in the afternoon. You then follow the wine from one end to the other, from choosing the base wines to the gesture that closes the bottle. Ask us for the price of the day built that way.
Not honestly, no: it is about an hour and a half of road each way. From Paris we will propose a full day instead, with this demonstration in the middle of it.
Give us the day, the half of it you prefer, your hotel and the number of people. You get back the confirmed time, the grower’s name and the exact cost of the tasting, 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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