Hautvillers is a small town just outside Epernay that is famous for being the home of Dom Pérignon…read more This was the only tasting room open to the public and it's quite lovely. This is a small family owned vineyard that welcomes you to come taste their champagne. The tasting room over looks a vineyard and makes for nice pictures to capture the moment. When you want a tasting you get a choice of 3 champagnes for 15 euros. If you buy 6 or more bottles the tasting is free. They will ship worldwide.

This is a family owned champagne house and we met the sons of the family. We visited during…read moreharvest, which is a crazy time of year, so everyone was running around, and then the Tasting Room got really busy, so more running around, but they still took the time to explain their champagnes and deliver a couple of flights of tastings. The difference here was that they actually brought out flights, where most other places we went to would serve one tasting at a time. The advantage of a flight is that they could deliver your entire tasting at once, but the disadvantage is that the last few you taste will be warmer, so may not showcase the champagne as well. Also, we noticed that the champagne was not as bubbly, but we're told that it's because of the glass and they were waiting for a new shipment of glasses. Didn't get to test this theory out, but will do some further research. The Tasting Room itself looks brand new. It's very modern with amazing views of the vineyards. This place is worth a visit just for the views! The champagnes are good and priced reasonably. We saw people buy cases and cases of the stuff, and we picked up a few bottles for ourselves and for gifts.

Our host works for a champagne house and she recommended we either go to Champagne de Castellane or…read moreMercier to see their cave. We opted for the cellar with the beautiful tower. 12 Euros per person gets you a Wonderful, informative tour of the Champagne cave (cellar) plus a view of mini museum dedicated to history of their champagne AND a tasting at the end of the tour. The tour lasted 50 minutes. Our guide showed us the vats where 100,000 L of champagne were stored, how they turn the bottles to remove the sediment and treasures of champagne bottles that were centuries old. Someone in the group asked as we walked by crates of champagne what year and type of champagne the bottles were. She replied that champagne bottles are marked by a special system that only the specialists knew. I love learning about champagne! And the tasting at the end of tour was wonderful! They gave us a sample of the Champagne de Castellane Brut. Amazing! Fresh, bubbly, flavorful. This was much better than the Moet et Chandon we were drinking in NY. I wish we ordered a couple of bottles to ship home.

The tasting room is located in the old train station. All of the PREMIUM DESIGNER LABELS line the…read moreboulevard... but Castellane's best champagne easily stacks up to the likes of Dom, Perrier and Veuve Clicqout! When ever we are in Epernay we drop in to buy a case of their COMMODORE Champagne to ship home!

If you have a couple of days in Epernay and a car, this little village of Hautvillers is highly…read morerecommended. It has all the charms of a little French village. This particular place is a hotel + tasting venue. It has a cute courtyard overlooking its gardens. Very relaxing. Very scenic. Nice way to spend an early afternoon. There are a couple more tasting rooms nearby.

Another one of those "you live and learn" moments. Reservations are required for various tasting…read moretours which run from 80 euros and up. Even though we didn't have reservations, we were able to go to the tasting room for sampling. I honestly had no idea how many varieties of champagne are made. We tasted about 6 champagnes in about 2 hours and fortunately, had a ride to our hotel. The staff made us feel very welcome, as opposed to our attempted tour at Bollinger. The gift shop was happy to see us and sad to see us leave!

We had the vintage tasting experience here and our guide was simply the best! We learned and saw so…read moremuch of the house as well. Our guide suggested to finish our tasting with a comparison of dom perignon vintages from two completely different years to see what we prefer. This was a very eye opening and fun end to the tour as we learned so much about our own preferences. This tour was the best and would highly recommend it to anyone! I'd say this is the best tour to do on the avenue and then do tastings at other wineries or shops. Because this tour is the only one you need!

This was our first stop when we arrived in Champagne. We had a large group and our host set us up…read morein their very nice tasting room. We had 6 very generous champagne tasters and he explained the difference between them and gave us some background. He also told us the best order to taste them in. He asked us what we thought of each one and what were our favorites. He was very friendly and knowledgeable and I would definitely recommend this place.

Lovely spot to try champagne. All of the different types of champagne were explained very well. Go…read moreif you like a laid back spot without any pressure.