La ChampagneReims to Épernay.

Ruinart is the oldest champagne house in existence — founded in 1729 by Nicolas Ruinart, nephew of Dom Thierry Ruinart (a Benedictine monk and collaborator of Dom Pérignon). The caves at Ruinart are the most architecturally extraordinary of all the Reims houses: Gothic-arched Roman crayères on eight levels, the chalk walls still bearing the marks of 4th-century quarrying tools, the silence and darkness absolute. The house specialises in Chardonnay-dominant blends — the Blanc de Blancs R de Ruinart is the entry point; the Dom Ruinart prestige cuvée is among the finest white champagnes made. Book the cave visit 2–4 weeks in advance; spaces are limited.

The house founded in 1772 by Philippe Clicquot and transformed after his death by his widow Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin (Veuve Clicquot — the Widow). She invented the riddling table (pupitre) in 1816 — a perforated board that allowed the bottles to be gradually tilted and rotated to collect the dead yeast cells in the neck for disgorging, producing crystal-clear champagne for the first time. Before this invention, champagne was cloudy. She also pioneered the vintage label and established the distribution network that made champagne the global luxury product it became. Her personal slogan: "Only one quality, the finest."

At 02:41 on 7 May 1945, in a red-brick school building on the Rue Franklin Roosevelt in Reims, Colonel-General Alfred Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of all German forces — ending WWII in Europe. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander Allied Forces, was in the same building but did not attend the signing (protocol required a junior officer to receive the surrender). The room is preserved exactly as it was on that morning — the maps on the walls, the communications equipment, the chairs where the German delegation sat. The museum around it documents the liberation of France and the final campaign. The room is small, unremarkable, and overwhelming.

A lighthouse built in 1909 in the middle of Verzenay's Grand Cru Pinot Noir vineyard — not to guide ships (there is no water for 200km) but as a publicity stunt by a wine merchant who wanted to attract attention to his estate. The lighthouse was subsequently converted into the Musée de la Vigne (Vine Museum), with the upper galleries giving the finest panoramic view of the Montagne de Reims vineyards, the Reims skyline, and the chalk plain extending north. The surrounding Grand Cru Verzenay vineyard produces some of the most powerful Pinot Noir in the Marne — the Blanc de Noirs from this village (white wine from red grapes) is the most intellectually interesting thing to taste.

Ay is the most historically prestigious Grand Cru village in Champagne — a small town in the Marne valley below the Montagne de Reims whose vineyards were owned by the French royal family (François I planted vines here in the 16th century; Henri IV considered its wines the best in France). The site's Pinot Noir grapes are the foundation of the most powerful Marne champagnes. The négociant houses Bollinger (founded in Ay in 1829) and Deutz are both based here; smaller vignerons include Gatinois and Gosset (the oldest wine house in Champagne, founded 1584 — predating champagne's invention as a sparkling wine). The village itself is unpretentious and the direct sales prices excellent.

The most picturesque village in Champagne — a hillside village above the Marne valley, its houses decorated with wrought-iron signs bearing vine, barrel and bottle motifs, the Abbey of Hautvillers on the slope above. The Abbey is where Dom Pierre Pérignon (1638–1715) worked as cellar master for 47 years, and where he is buried beneath the altar of the abbey church. The tomb is accessible to visitors. Moët & Chandon owns the Abbey and its vineyards; the village church is free and always open. The Dom Pérignon who "discovered" champagne is partly myth — Pérignon spent much of his career trying to eliminate the bubbles he considered a defect — but his blending technique and cork closure innovations were genuine advances.

The Avenue de Champagne in Épernay is the single most valuable street in the world by underground real estate — beneath the 1.7km avenue lie the cellars of Moët & Chandon (28km of galleries, 100 million bottles), Perrier-Jouët, Pol Roger, Mercier, and a dozen other houses. The street-level architecture is Belle Époque and Neo-Classical of considerable grandeur — the champagne fortunes of the 19th century expressed in stone. Napoleon, who had a personal relationship with Jean-Rémy Moët, visited Épernay five times and the original Moët cellars are named after him. The tourist office at the avenue's base offers a self-guided map of all the house entrances.

The largest champagne house in the world — producing approximately 30 million bottles per year (one-fifth of all champagne sold internationally). Founded in 1743 by Claude Moët; transformed by his grandson Jean-Rémy Moët who cultivated a personal friendship with Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon visited Épernay five times and the cellars beneath the Avenue are named after him. Moët & Chandon is the world's best-known champagne brand through its Impérial NV; the Dom Pérignon vintage cuvée (produced in the Hautvillers Abbey vineyards) is the most famous prestige cuvée in the world. The cave tour includes the Imperial Suite where Napoleon stayed.

The Côte des Blancs is a 20km hillside of east-facing chalk slopes south of Épernay planted almost entirely with Chardonnay — the white grape that produces Blanc de Blancs champagne (sparkling wine made from white grapes only) of extraordinary finesse and longevity. The five Grand Cru villages of the Côte — Cramant, Avize, Oger, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Chouilly — each produce distinct expressions of Chardonnay on slightly different chalk substrates. Le Mesnil-sur-Oger is considered the greatest: its wines have a steely mineral quality from the deepest chalk subsoil in the appellation that allows them to age for 30–50 years. Salon, the single-vineyard prestige house producing from Le Mesnil exclusively, makes champagne only in exceptional years.

The Marne valley west of Épernay is Pinot Meunier country — the third and least celebrated of the three champagne grapes, grown on the north-facing clay-limestone slopes of the river valley where the cold air pooling from the river makes Pinot Noir ripen unreliably. Pinot Meunier (meunier = miller, for the white floury underside of the leaf) ripens later and more reliably in these conditions; it contributes roundness and early fruit to the blend while Chardonnay gives freshness and Pinot Noir gives structure and body. The valley villages are largely unknown to tourists; the vignerons are welcoming and the prices excellent. The Marne at this point flows through a landscape of specific pastoral beauty — poplars, chalk escarpments, willow-fringed river.

Champagne is the product of two fermentations. The first (in tank or barrel) converts grape sugar to alcohol and produces a still base wine. The second fermentation happens in the sealed bottle: a small addition of sugar and yeast (the liqueur de tirage) is added, the bottle is sealed with a crown cap, and the wine referments in the bottle over 6–18 months, producing CO2 that dissolves into the wine under pressure. The dead yeast cells (lees) remain in the bottle during extended ageing (non-vintage minimum 15 months, vintage minimum 3 years, prestige cuvées often 8–10 years). The lees are then collected in the neck (riddling), frozen, and expelled (disgorgement). A small quantity of wine and sugar (dosage) is added to adjust sweetness. The bottle is corked.