Cramant is one of the picturesque villages of France's Champagne region, easily accessible from Paris. Photo / Getty Images
No luxury holiday is complete without a glass of champagne. Head to the region this decadent drink comes from, where you can explore historic cellars, find delightful accommodations, and savour Michelin-starred dining.
It’s the king of drinks, the sign for a celebration, and to paraphrase Dom Perignon, a taste of the stars. No wonder so many of us want to explore the region that gives its name to the drink, with its corduroy-striped vineyards laid over the land while beneath, hundreds of kilometres of cellars and passageways store a ridiculous number of bottles.
To see as much as possible, take in the city of Reims, with its cathedral where most of the kings of France were crowned, and the champagne “capital” of Epernay, with its famous 0.8km Avenue de Champagne, lined by famous labels from Moët & Chandon to Perrier Jouet. You can reach both by train from Paris, but if you’re travelling by car, there’s plenty more to see in the surrounding area.
I’m a big fan of staying with the local producers on my visits, starting where it all began in Hautvillers, the so-called Cradle of Champagne. It was in the abbey here that 17th-century cellar master Dom Perignon tasted his first fizz and refined its production, with the help of Dom Ruinart; their tombs are in the church. A short walk away in one of France’s prettiest villages, small champagne producer La Chevalee has four modern rooms decorated in earthy tones. Lounge by the pool while sipping their own Pierre Fedyk label or rent electric bikes to explore. B&B doubles from €160/$289.
My favourite tipple and tour is offered by family-run Voirin Jumel in the premier cru village of Cramant. Handily, it also has pleasant, albeit small, B&B rooms from €70/$126, and some modern apartments, though they sell out super fast.
When staying in Reims, I prefer to be within walking distance of the sites. You can’t do better than Les Crayeres, which mixes spacious, classical French rooms – think chandeliers, gilt-edged paintings and Toile de Jouy – and a tartan-clad bar, with the feel of a Scottish manor about it. The food is sublime – one of its restaurants has two Michelin stars, where a caviar and champagne menu with accompanying drinks will set you back as much as the rooms – from €490/$884 a night – although there is a much less expensive brasserie. It’s also within easy walking distance of the Pommery, Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot and Ruinart champagne houses.
It’s not cheap but where better than Champagne for a blow-out break? For somewhere a little lower budget, I stayed at the Continental Hotel, which is near the station and just 10 minutes’ walk from the cathedral. Although it’s set in an 18th-century building, its 50 rooms are a modern mix of black and white – and what’s more, they cost from just €155/$279. With its impressive ceiling and metallic bar, the restaurant is an atmospheric place for a drink and serves good food.
In Epernay, you can’t beat the Avenue de Champagnes. I loved les Suites du 33 at Champagne de Venoge, which makes its own Cordon Bleu range as well as the more expensive Princes, in teardrop-shaped bottles. Here, I tucked into a tasting with tapas in the former stables, with blue banquettes and round lights reminiscent of champagne bubbles, after a tour of the 19th-century chateau with its modern cellar. The former guardian’s house has four contemporary suites in light colours, with B&B doubles from €310/$559 a night.
Unless you want to start with your favourite brand, Mumm in Reims is a good starting point to see the sheer scale of its 25km of cellar galleries that include a central tunnel dubbed the Champs Elysees and streets named after champagne-producing villages.
Although the cellars all impart the same information, some have specific USPs; I found those in Reims to have the most interesting stories. For instance, Veuve Clicquot is named after the widow who in 1805 became the first woman to run a champagne house. She also invented the riddling rack, which positions bottles upside down to gather sediment formed after the second fermentation. I loved the sniffing section of the tour, where aromas of the three grape varieties used in champagne (pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay) are puffed into the air.
More girl power is on offer at Vranken-Pommery, where widowed Madame Pommery realised that British customers preferred less sugar in their champers, so created Pommery Nature, the first brut in champagne’s history, in 1874. She was a lot less subtle in her art taste, as I discovered after descending the monumental staircase into the 18km maze of tunnels, where huge underground chalk reliefs portray Bacchus and his cohorts.
For art lovers, Ruinart is also a must-see. One of the first champagne houses, dating to 1729, it includes contemporary art in its underground world of Gallo-Roman mines. Among them is an installation of a metal root that is fed dates from the vineyard, the climate and wine production to trigger sound and light bubbles.
In Epernay, I enjoyed a bit of light relief from the standard champagne-making explanations at Mercier, where a subterranean train took me on a journey through the 18km of galleries and chalk reliefs. Among them, I spotted a scantily clad statue of Miss Mercier, which was considered scandalous at the time. Owner Eugene Mercier was big on publicity – on show is the huge oak barrel that took 24 oxen to pull to the 1889 International Exposition in Paris. The next year, he offered trips above the city in his Mercier-branded hot-air balloon.
I went on the poshest bar crawl in the world along Epernay’s Avenue du Champagnes, stopping for a tasting everywhere from Boizel to Pol Roger. When the munchies hit, I went just round to corner to C Comme, the perfect little champagne shop-cum-bar, with its atmospheric cellar and modern tasting room that spills out on to the pavement in fine weather. But even here, the light bites such as champenoise pate with grapes can be accompanied by a flight of champagne.
For a better attempt at soaking it all up, I hit La Table Kobus on rue Dr Rousseau, with its ornate ceiling and modern furnishings, where I feasted on exquisitely prepared food such as prawns with celery remoulade and truffles (three courses at lunch €32/$58 or €53/$96 at dinner).
In Reims, away from the Michelin-starred stratospheric prices, the place to go for small cafes and bars is the area around the indoor market, Les Halles du Boulingrin. One of the best is Le Bocal where you can compose your own platters of seafood from the small plates on offer, then match it to your favoured champagne.
At lunchtime, avoiding the tourist traps by the cathedral, I discovered the superb Café du Palais where I sat beneath the Art Deco ceiling and savoured the excellent croque monsieur with truffles (more substantial dishes are on offer, from scallops and salmon to duck parmentier).
Whenever I’m in Hautvillers, I make a beeline for the restaurant and shop Au 36, where they serve plates of delicious local specialities alongside champagne…think meats and cheeses, chicken with champagne cream or ratatouille. And if you like what you’re drinking, you can buy bottles at very reasonable prices while you’re there.
Checklist
CHAMPAGNE
GETTING THERE
Fly from Auckland to Paris with Emirates, via Dubai, China Eastern, via Shanghai, or China Southern, via Guangzhou. You can reach the Champagne region by car or direct train.
DETAILS
champagne.fr/en/visit-champagne
'Queues are shorter and processing times are much faster,' says Auckland Airport boss.