Epernay and the surrounding region

The town of Epernay is entirely surrounded by vines. Walk down the Avenue de Champagne, with its magnificent mansion façades and opulent middle-class homes occupied by famous Champagne Houses, and you can see why Epernay competes for the title of ‘Capital of Champagne’.

The surrounding area offers a choice of routes. To the east lies Aÿ (high Gothic-style church and wood-frame houses, including one that is reputed to have served as Henri IV’s fermenting room); also Mutigny (view); Avenay-Val-d’Or (12th and 16th century church); Louvois (castle once owned by a minister of Louis XIV); and the rich, fashionable market towns of Bouzy and Ambonnay.

Several villages to the south deserve a mention: Pierry (for its 18th century mansions including one formerly owned by Jacques Cazotte, a man of letters who regularly entertained some of the most famous writers, philosophers and artists of his time); Chavot (for its church and view); Brugny (for its castle); and Saint-Martin d’Ablois (for its strange steeple and Sourdon water source). On the Côte des Blancs, you find villages that each combine a charming rural setting with an elegant church (Cuis, Cramant, Avize and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, home of Léon Bourgeois, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1920 and founder of the League of Nations). In the neighbouring village of Vertus, birthplace of leading 14th century French poet Eustache Deschamps, the church features a crypt and is surrounded by ancient ramparts. Near Bergères-les-Vertus, the view from the top of Mount Aimé is impressive.

This enormous hill has been the site of prehistoric settlements, followed by a Gaul camp then a Roman camp, an immense fortress and a pyre on which the Champenois Cathares were burnt at the stake in 1239.