Autumn Champagne Vineyards

Champagne Cellars

Champagne Harvest Vineyard Walk

“Champagne” of course means countryside and this short walking holiday takes us deep into the Champagne region. From our base in the Grand Cru village of Aÿ we have walks out of the village to the surrounding hills and Champagne Villages. In Aÿ and offer a choice of accommodation: 3* Manor House or 2* equivalent gite, both owned by Champagne growers.

On the first day’s walk we cover the Grands Crus of the Montagne de Reims, the famous Pinot Noir vineyards of Ambonnay, Bouzy, and Aÿ. Our first tasting will be in Bouzy. After this we will have a picnic in the vineyards then drop down into Mareuil-sur-Aÿ for another tasting. From here we follow the Marne canal to Aÿ.

Next day, we walk through the majestic vineyards of Aÿ across into the Premier Crus of Dizy, Hautvilliers and Cumières. Theoretically this is a Pinot Meunier vineyard but we will see Chardonnay and Pinot Noir too. We have a visit and tasting in Dizy before climbing up to the pretty village of Hautvilliers where we stop for lunch. After exploring the village, we will drop down to the Marne for a tasting in Cumières. This is only one village away from Dizy but stylistically it could be 100 miles with the champagnes being powerful and almost brutal in character.

The next day we tackle the Grand Crus of the Côte des Blancs. First we walk round the Bute de Saran, largely owned by Moët and the source of the white grapes for Dom Perignon, and then arrive in Cramant, the most sheltered and warmest of the villages. Avize with its classically vinious wines is next and we stop here for lunch. After lunch the village of Oger is next, then the walk's end is in le Mesnil. These Champagnes are more assertive with strong, perhaps mineral character. By now we will have walked out most of the great terroirs of Champagne and hopefully have come to understand them too. On the last morning we have a short walk and final visit and tasting in the Grand Cru village of Aÿ.