I wanted to pick up some local champagne to take with me on my train ride across France, and I…read morestumbled into Nicolas Reims. What a charming little wine shop! This turned out to be a truly fantastic wine merchant and one of our favorite stops in Reims!
Established in 1976, this shop specializes in a wide selection of French and foreign wines, spirits, an impressive range of chilled champagnes. If they don't have something you'll like here, then you obviously didn't need it!
The staff were incredibly friendly, patient, and helpful. They graciously put up with our terrible attempts at speaking French, and (no surprise) they spoke perfect English. Once we at least made the effort in French, they seemed genuinely happy to switch, which really added to the experience. It's amazing how that works in Europe.
The selection here is excellent. There's a large variety of white and rosé wines, champagnes, and beers, many of them already chilled and ready to enjoy. I had made a couple of picks in my basket, but I asked the staff their thoughts. The friendly man nodded with approval at two of my bottles but made a "kind suggestion" about replacing the third with something different. Of course I took his advice!
I really liked that they sold champagne and wine in different size formats. I was able to get a couple of splits that made it easy to try new champagnes without committing to the cost and space limitations of a larger, regular sized bottle.
The shop itself is clean, professional, and well organized, and the service is quick and knowledgeable without ever feeling rushed or snobby. You can tell they know their products and genuinely enjoy helping customers find what they're looking for. We weren't given an upsell pitch or anything like that, and the customer service was really, really great.
We were especially touched that they packaged our champagne in beautiful Christmas gift wrapping without us even asking. Maybe something got lost in translation or maybe they're just that thoughtful, but either way, it was a lovely surprise and looked great. It was also early December, so I'm guessing most people were gift shopping at that time and maybe they just automatically wrap things assuming they are gifts.
All around, Nicolas Reims is a great wine shop and an easy recommendation if you're looking for something to drink or to take home as a souvenir. I'd definitely come back here.