Champagne is the region our clients reach most often from Paris, and the one where good choices matter more than good luck. The region does tourism brilliantly, sometimes overwhelmingly. The doors are open everywhere. Our work is knowing which ones are worth your day, and building the day so it feels like yours.
The region, honestly
Champagne makes the most sense when you treat it as farming. The famous houses of Reims and the Avenue de Champagne make most of the Champagne the world drinks, but the vineyards themselves are farmed overwhelmingly by families, thousands of growers tending their own slopes of chalk. The two worlds depend on each other, and a great day holds both: the cathedral cellars in the morning, a working cellar in the afternoon, where the contrast is the lesson.
We work with estates of every size, from the storied maisons to family houses to growers who pour at their own kitchen table. Some of our favorite afternoons end on a terrace above the Vallée de la Marne with the valley spread out below the vines. Most of Champagne is open to anyone with a reservation. Some of it is not, and that is where our work shows. We can sometimes open doors that are not easy to open on your own, and we create small grower experiences that are hard to find, the kind that never appear on a booking site. The difference is design: which visits, in which order, at which pace, so you experience Champagne as a guest rather than a tourist.
Celebration and scars
Champagne pours at every celebration on earth, and the region itself carries a much heavier story. There are red crosses still painted on chalk cellar walls where whole communities lived through the First World War, with classrooms and hospitals underground while the vineyards above were a front line. In 1911 growers rioted when cheap grapes were shipped up from the south, pulling them off the trains at Damery and throwing them into the Marne, and that fight is part of why the rules protecting Champagne exist at all. In Reims cathedral, where the kings of France were crowned, Chagall windows now glow in a building that was once bombed to its shell. We tell these stories on the road between visits because they change how the wine tastes. Celebration means more when you know what it survived.
Designed around the sub regions
Champagne is not one landscape, and we build your days around its parts: the Montagne de Reims for Pinot Noir and the grand villages, the Vallée de la Marne for Meunier, river views and our favorite terraces, the Cote des Blancs for Chardonnay at its most chalk driven, and quiet corners like the Sezannais that most visitors never reach. Tell us what you drink at home and we will tell you which slopes your day should climb. Somewhere in the day we always stop at a lookout above the vines, because the landscape explains Champagne before anyone pours a glass.
Two ways we work in Champagne
Guided days. A full day with one of our team beside you, from your train or hotel to the last cellar. Producer visits chosen across all sizes of estates, lunch worth the region, and the context behind every glass. 1100 euros per person with transport and standard tastings included. Lunch and premium tastings are separate. Private, for two to six guests, full days only.
Designed days. We plan the entire day, book your producers and lunch, and arrange a private driver who meets your train and takes you door to door. No guide with you on the day, but every visit chosen and booked with the same care as if we were there. 750 euros for the design, with your driver and tastings settled directly on the ground.
Coming from Paris, we tell you exactly which trains to book and your driver is waiting at the station. Many clients do Champagne as a day trip from the city, and many stay a night in Reims or Epernay to slow it down. Both work beautifully.
Beyond the tasting room
For clients who want to go further we arrange what takes planning rather than luck: cellar time with the winemaker, visits during harvest when the region is alive, the right grande maison reserved early enough to actually happen, a table at the addresses worth planning an evening around, and that last glass on a terrace above the Marne. We know which hotels suit which trip, and we point you right. We are wine people, not a travel agency, and everything we design runs through the wine.
Who you are working with
Emily Lester Fouilleroux is a sommelier, French Wine Scholar, and Bourgogne Master Level graduate who teaches at the Burgundy School of Business and writes everything you read on this site. Nicolas Fouilleroux is a WSET Diploma holder and certified educator who studied to Stage 2 of the Master of Wine programme, an ambassador for the wines of Provence, and came to wine after fifteen years in classical music. When we are not guiding ourselves, your day is led by one of a small circle of seasoned bilingual wine professionals we trust with our own clients.
People come to us for the trips that matter: a 50th birthday, an anniversary, a retirement celebrated properly with bubbles. Tell us the occasion and we will build the day around it.
Questions we hear every week
Can we do Champagne as a day trip from Paris?
Yes, and it is the most common trip we design. The train reaches Reims in about 45 minutes and Epernay in under an hour and a half. Your driver meets the platform, and you are in a cellar by mid morning. We wrote a full guide on how to visit Champagne from Paris.
Do we need a car?
No. Between the trains and the private driver on designed and guided days, nobody in your party needs to stay sober for the road or navigate vineyard lanes after tastings.
Should we visit the famous houses or the small growers?
Both, and the contrast is the point. The grandes maisons are spectacular and book out months ahead, so we reserve early. The family estates are where Champagne becomes personal, and the craft is matching the right ones to your taste rather than the ones with the biggest parking lot. Our days usually pair the two.
When should we come, and what about harvest?
Late spring through fall is lovely. Harvest, usually late August into September, is the most exciting time and the trickiest, because producers are working. We plan around it carefully, and some of our favorite visits happen then.
How far ahead should we book?
Two to six months for most dates, longer if a specific famous house matters to you. We are already booking spring 2027.
Start the conversation
Tell us your dates and your occasion and we will reply personally. If you are still shaping the trip, book a consultation and we will think it through with you, or read about our full trip planning if Champagne is one stop of several.
