De Venoge: The King's Decree and the Empty Chair

What to do there

6 things to do

1. 1

   Read the Initials Between the Griffins

   history Free

   A Perrier-Jouët president's house, read from the avenue.

   Marcel Gallice, then president of Perrier-Jouët, had this house built by the architect Charles Blondel from April 1898 to 1899; it was inaugurated on 3 February 1900. De Venoge has had its headquarters here since 2014, by the heritage mission's count; the house's own timeline says 2015.

   WHERE: the iron railing of 33 avenue de Champagne.

   WHAT: find Marcel Gallice's initials worked into the railing, then look up at the façade: two griffins carry the first-floor balcony on either side of a cartouche with the letters CMG. Then find the oval dormer window.

   HOW: all of it is in view from the avenue, free.

   BACKUP: if the gate is shut, the railing and the façade are still in view from the pavement.

   Log Memory
2. 2

   Find the Quill in the King's Hand

   history Free

   The law the house calls Champagne's birth certificate, in bronze.

   Since a ruling of 1676, confirmed in 1680, wine could not legally be moved in bottles, for tax reasons, so it travelled in casks, though the rule was not always obeyed. In 1724 the aldermen of Reims asked for a change: drinkers preferred Champagne's grey wine sparkling, and it lost its quality in the cask. On 25 May 1728, a decree of the King's Council let Champagne cross Normandy in baskets of 50 or 100 bottles, to be shipped abroad from Rouen, Caen, Dieppe and Le Havre and no other port. De Venoge calls it the birth certificate of Champagne.

   WHERE: the middle of the courtyard at 33 avenue de Champagne.

   WHAT: find the life-size bronze of Louis XV in his armchair, a glass in one hand and, in the other, the quill with which, as the house tells it, he has just signed the decree. Then name the four ports.

   HOW: walk in through the iron gates while the bar is open; a local guide calls the statue free and open to everyone.

   BACKUP: if the gate is shut, come back when the bar opens; it opens every day.

   Log Memory
3. 3

   Find the Blue Ribbon

   history Free

   The house's emblem: a Swiss river and a royal order of chivalry on one label.

   The house says the family came from the Swiss canton of Vaud, where the river Venoge flows into Lake Geneva, and that Henri-Marc de Venoge left Switzerland in 1825; he founded the house in 1837. In 1851, the house says, it took the Cordon Bleu, a blue ribbon, as its emblem: for the river, and for the Order of the Holy Spirit, the French monarchy's order of chivalry, whose knights wore a sky-blue ribbon called the cordon bleu.

   WHERE: the shop in L'Écurie, a late-19th-century stable by the courtyard, rebuilt as the house's bar and shop.

   WHAT: find a bottle of Cordon Bleu Brut and the bands of blue lines across its white label.

   HOW: free to look while the shop is open.

   BACKUP: the Cordon Bleu Brut is also poured by the glass at the bar, for €12.

   Log Memory
4. 4

   Taste Chardonnay Against Pinot Noir

   wine Price: moderate

   The house's two Princes side by side: a white grape against a black one.

   The house says its Cuvée des Princes was created in homage to the Princes of Orange, and that the carafe-shaped bottle recalls the European aristocracy of the early 20th century, who decanted champagne into crystal flasks. Glass was a matter of law too: a royal declaration given at Versailles on 8 March 1735 regulated the making of glass bottles and carafes.

   WHERE: the bar in L'Écurie, inside or at the tables in the courtyard.

   WHAT: order the two Princes side by side: the Blanc de Blancs, made only from Chardonnay, mostly from the Grand Cru village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, and the Blanc de Noirs, made only from Pinot Noir, which the house calls its signature grape. Then choose the one you would have packed into a basket of 50 bottles bound for England.

   HOW: the pair is €35 on the bar's menu, or book the 30-minute Tasting of Signature Champagnes (€35) online; booked tastings are for 18 and over. A zero-proof vineyard-peach nectar is €7.

   BACKUP: the Cordon Bleu Brut with the Princes Blanc de Noirs, €29 on the same menu.

   Log Memory
5. 5

   Go Inside for the 1921 Window and Old Vintages

   Optional

   wine Price: high

   The house's booked Premium visit: its rooms, the 1921 war window, the Vinothèque and the garden.

   After the 1914–1918 war, Marcel Gallice commissioned the master glassmaker Jacques Grüber to light the wooden staircase: the window, made in 1921, commemorates Épernay's suffering in the war, and the trade body describes an angel with an olive branch, framed by garlands of grapes and vine leaves.

   WHERE: inside the Hôtel de Venoge, on the booked Premium visit.

   WHAT: at the entrance, find the bust of Gaëtan de Venoge, grandson of the founder, who the house says built its exports to the United States from 1866; find the grapes and vine leaves in the window (ask your guide if the route skips the staircase); see the Vinothèque, where the house keeps its old vintages and disgorges them to order in 4 to 8 weeks; walk the English garden, with its winding artificial river and its view over the valley. The visit ends with Princes Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs, Rosé and the Louis XV prestige vintage.

   HOW: €80 Monday to Thursday or €90 Friday to Sunday, 2 hours, in French or in English (separate visits), booked online; check in 10 minutes early.

   BACKUP: the €70 tasting of four Princes at the bar, 1 hour.

   Log Memory
6. 6

   Take the Empty Chair and Toast the King

   adventure Free

   A seat beside Louis XV, a toast, and the story of a bottle under the base.

   Louis XV was crowned in Reims cathedral on 25 October 1722. On 25 October 2022, three hundred years later to the day, De Venoge inaugurated this bronze by the Peruvian sculptor Juan Carlos Carrillo, who said he guaranteed it for a thousand years; the house tells the story that a bottle lies under its base.

   WHERE: the middle of the courtyard at 33 avenue de Champagne.

   WHAT: sit in the second chair set beside the king so visitors can toast him, raise your glass or your nectar, and take the photo.

   HOW: free; the courtyard opens with the bar every day from 10:00, to 17:30 in winter and later in summer, and closes on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January.

   BACKUP: after closing time, the toast waits for the morning.

   Log Memory

Insider Tips

• The bar pours the Princes Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs as a pair for €35, and the Cordon Bleu Brut with the Princes Blanc de Noirs for €29; a zero-proof vineyard-peach nectar is €7.

• Booked tastings are for 18 and over and cannot be changed. The house's booking page says the Premium visit is not for children under 7 and has no wheelchair access or parking: check access and parking when booking.

• The story goes that the king changed the law so he could have champagne with Madame de Pompadour, but he met her in 1745, seventeen years after the decree.

• Épernay station is about 600 m from the gate in a straight line.