Épernay's Avenue de Champagne, Gate by Gate

Until 1925 this was Rue du Commerce; that year Épernay renamed it Avenue de Champagne. Along it, champagne houses stand behind high, ornate gates, and the town counts 110 km of cellars beneath them. Jean-Rémy Moët had his mansion built here in 1793; the bombing of July 1918 left only its façades. You can walk it end to end, find a Temple of Love modelled on Versailles' and a huntsman in Charles Perrier's courtyard, go down into Moët's 28 km of cellars, find Pol Roger's door on the street Épernay named for Churchill, and climb the 237 steps of the De Castellane tower.

What to do there

6 things to do

1. 1 Find the Temple of Love Behind the Town Hall History · Free

   A temple modelled on Versailles' Temple of Love, in a free public garden.

   Jean-Baptiste Isabey drew this garden between 1800 and 1810 for Jean-Rémy Moët, then mayor of Épernay; in 1920 the town bought the estate for its town hall and opened the garden to the public.

   Where: the town-hall garden, 7 bis avenue de Champagne, beside the tourist office at n°7.

   What: find the round temple on Corinthian columns standing over an artificial grotto with a cascade. It was designed after the Temple of Love in the hamlet of Trianon at Versailles (1777, Richard Mique).

   How: go in at 7 bis, or through the tourist office's garden-side door; the garden is free.

   Backup: outside garden hours, start at the tourist office next door, open all year.

   Log Memory
2. 2 Go 10 to 30 Metres Down at Moët & Chandon Wine · Price: moderate

   Moët's 28 km of chalk cellars, on the house's €48 tour.

   Claude Moët founded the house in 1743. Next door to its buildings at n°18, his grandson Jean-Rémy Moët had the Hôtel Moët built at n°20 in 1793; the bombing of July 1918 left only its façades, and it was rebuilt. The house says Napoleon visited and gave Jean-Rémy the Légion d'honneur; the story goes that he stopped here before every campaign except Waterloo. In 1943 the house's head, Robert-Jean de Vogüé, was arrested by the Gestapo; condemned to death and pardoned, he was freed in 1945.

   Where: Moët & Chandon, 18 avenue de Champagne.

   What: before the tour, find the inscription "1743 Moët & Chandon" on the buildings and, in the entrance courtyard, the statue of the monk Dom Pérignon by the sculptor Chavaillaud. Then take The Imperial Moment, 1 h 30 for €48, with two glasses: Moët Impérial and Rosé Impérial. Below lie 28 km of cellars between 10 and 30 metres underground, first dug in the 18th century.

   How: tours leave regularly, daily 9:30–17:00, in English or French. Walk-ins are possible when places remain, but the house recommends booking online. The cellars are cold, so bring warm clothing; there is a lift for wheelchair users.

   Backup: Mercier at 68 avenue de Champagne (step 5), where you can also taste at the visitor centre without a tour or a booking.

   Log Memory
3. 3 Find the Huntsman in Charles Perrier's Courtyard History · Free

   A cast-iron rider, and the house where Gallé's anemones became Belle Epoque.

   Charles Perrier, heir and head of Perrier-Jouët, built this château in 1852–1857 and lived here with his wife Octavie Gallice until their deaths in 1878. Their nephew Henri Gallice inherited it, took over Perrier-Jouët, and ordered a statue of the Veneur, a huntsman on horseback, from the sculptor Pierre Le Nordez.

   Where: Château Perrier, courtyard entrance at 13 avenue de Champagne.

   What: find the Veneur, cast in iron, in the courtyard about 20 m from the avenue. Then look across at n°11, the Hôtel Guyot, Perrier-Jouët's since 1872, now the Maison Belle Epoque. Émile Gallé made four hand-painted magnums at the request of Octave Gallice, and Henri Gallice set them aside for better times. In 1964 the house's sales director Pierre Ernst and cellar master André Baveret rediscovered bottles decorated with Gallé's anemones of 1902, never sold, and chose that bottle for a prestige cuvée named Belle Epoque.

   How: the courtyard and the park are free. The museum inside costs €10, is free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month and always for under-13s. Across the avenue at n°26, Perrier-Jouët's Cellier Belle Epoque pours the house's champagnes from 11:30, Thursday to Monday (it may be closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays); the Maison Belle Epoque opens only for booked meals.

   Backup: the château's park, free and open daily.

   Log Memory
4. 4 Find Pol Roger's Door on Churchill's Street History · Free

   Number 1 on the street Épernay named for Churchill.

   Winston Churchill was a Pol Roger customer from 1908. He often promised Odette Pol-Roger he would come to Épernay to "press the grapes with my feet", and never went. When he died in 1965 the house bordered the label of its White Foil for the English market in black, and it named a cuvée for him, the Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, first made from the 1975 harvest.

   Where: rue Winston Churchill, about 200 m south of the avenue.

   What: find number 1, Pol Roger's headquarters. The street carried Henri Lelarge's name until Épernay gave it Churchill's, a change the house announced in August 2011: the man who never came now gives the house its address.

   How: free, from the street; the house does not open to the public (visits are by invitation or for the trade).

   Backup: none needed; it is a public street.

   Log Memory
5. 5 Ride Mercier's Driverless Train Under the Avenue Wine · Price: moderate · Optional

   A train through the cellars, past the cask that went to Paris in 1889.

   Mercier's inventory ledger of 7 July 1885 records its giant cask at 200,000 bottles: 1,600 hectolitres, 20,000 kilos. Hauled by 24 oxen, it reached the Paris Exposition universelle on 7 May 1889.

   Where: Mercier's visitor centre, 68 avenue de Champagne.

   What: the house says its single-storey cellars run 18 km, thirty metres under Épernay; a panoramic lift takes you down, and every tour includes a driverless train through part of them. Gustave Navlet's carved reliefs line the "Galerie de Pékin", showing Champagne towns and vineyard work, and the giant cask is on the route.

   How: The Founder costs €25 (45 min, one glass); guided tours cost €45 (1 h 30, in French or English). Teens aged 10–17 pay €12 and children under 10 go free. Adults who don't drink alcohol pay a reduced rate and are served a non-alcoholic drink; reserve it in advance. Book online; same-day slots are by phone only (+33 3 26 51 22 22).

   Backup: a tasting at the visitor centre without the tour, no reservation needed.

   Log Memory
6. 6 Climb the 237 Steps of the De Castellane Tower Adventure · Price: moderate

   A water tower of 1904, with a 360° view back over the avenue.

   The national heritage register tells it: the winery was founded by Ludovic Girard in 1883 beside the Paris–Strasbourg railway, and in 1904 it was extended with a cellar topped by a reinforced-concrete tower meant as a water tower. Tradition attributes the work to Marius Toudoire, architect of the Gare de Lyon in Paris. The firm took the de Castellane name in 1936.

   Where: De Castellane, entrance 57 rue de Verdun.

   What: before going in, look up at the lions on the tower and decide what they carry: Épernay's own heritage page says the monogram "UN" of the Union Champenoise, the state's heritage inventory says the arms of Champagne. Then find the painted tiles naming New-York, Barcelone and Alexandrie, and climb the tower's 66 m, 8 floors and 237 steps for a 360° view over Épernay and the surrounding hillsides, and find the line of the avenue you walked.

   How: the tower tour costs €20 for 1 hour with a glass of Brut Croix Rouge (€30 for 1 h 15 with two glasses), in groups of 10 at most. Booking is advised by email (visites@castellane.com) or phone (+33 3 26 51 19 11). The cellars are closed to the public for now, and dogs are not admitted.

   Backup: if no slot is left, walk round the outside for the lions and the city names.

   Log Memory

Insider tips

• Épernay station is five minutes on foot from the avenue, and direct trains from Paris Gare de l'Est take 80 minutes.

• Perrier-Jouët runs no cellar tour: its Cellier Belle Epoque at n°26 pours the house's champagnes from 11:30, Thursday to Monday (it may be closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays), and the à la carte menu needs no booking.

• The Château Perrier museum is free for everyone on the first Sunday of each month, and always free for under-13s.

• At Mercier, adults who don't drink pay a reduced rate and are served a non-alcoholic drink; reserve it when you book.