So my neighbor is headed to France in about a month and is planning a day trip to Champagne from Paris. Said neighbor enjoys wine, but isn’t a geek quite like most of us. Would like a tour of some Caves and a winemaking facility and then a tasting. He contacted Veuve Cliquot and set-up an 1 1/2 hour tour culminating with a tasting of their wines including the Grande Dame. Apparently Veuve is a walkable distance from the train stop, so I figured that would probably be great for them. Then he forwarded and email from them to me today and I nearly spit my drink through my nose. The fee for this tour and tasting is 525 Euros! 300 Euros for a tour ending with a tasting of just the yellow label plonk.
Personally, I have never paid anywhere in France for a tasting and have been to quite a few places. Perhaps the large Champagne houses are different though… So I am hoping the board wisdom here can help me with this and perhaps recommend a house that could provide a great tour and tasting for free or at least a reasonable fee.
Taittinger - 16 Euros. Recommended - their caves are amazing. 4th Century Roman chalk mines which later served as the foundation for the Abbaye Saint Nicaise - destroyed in the Revolution. They have English tours, too.
You also might try GH Martel, which is around the corner. Price is similar.
Also, these are short 20-30 minute tours. I’m sure that you get something more comprehensive at VC. But the price is a little crazy.
I was at Taittinger a couple of weeks ago and can recommend the tour. Not for the geeky, but informative and as mentioned above “Their caves are amazing”.
Not for the geeky and I have no idea what the fees are these days but back in the '80s I went on a really fun tour of the Piper Heidsick cellars. They have a little train that you ride on.
I dont recall paying anything at VC. But it was a fairly ordinary experience. Taittinger, Henriot and even Pommery would be better options for someone who wants to experience a widely available house near Reims
I think you have the pricing wrong for the Clicquot tour. Regular tours with two NV cuvees run ~25 Euros per tasting. The slightly longer Grande Dame tour is ~35 Euros and you taste the current Grande Dame. It is ~50 Euros if you want to taste a second vintage. They also have another more expensive tour with wine and cheese matching and can do custom things for other prices as well. A link to the 2012 guide describing their tours is Homepage | Veuve Clicquot
How many people were included in the 525 price? Was it just the regular four wines with cheese thing or were they requesting special wines/vintages? Feel free to PM me with the details. For a normal tour, I will say is that 525 is not right unless it is a group of 6 or so or they are choosing older library vintages. If they requested a special private tour (which it sounds like they might have), I could see that being the price as they price out tours to fill up with a certain number of folks. Private tours normally come at a set rate and include up to a certain number of people and so much wine and cheese. On the positive side, if the group is 2 on a private tour they could request to drink all the wine and eat all the cheese for the non-existent guests.
As for other tours, Piper is no longer around as it was in the old days and is now appointment only. Henriot is private too. Pommery and Taittinger have great cellars and good public tours. Taittinger can even do special tours/tastings on request, but you will want to inquire beforehand to make sure things can be set up and you are okay with the price. Ruinart is awesome too, but also by appointment only. Mumm does public tours though the cellars aren’t at the same level as the others. While Clicquot, Taittinger, Pommery, and Ruinart are walking distance to the train station it is still at least 3 km (maybe closer to 4 km). I have done it in the summer before and you can arrive quite sweaty depending on the weather. The bus system can get you there too.
In Epernay, Mercier’s tour has always been fun. Moet is good too, but not all that special.
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300 Euros for a tour ending with a tasting of just the yellow label plonk.
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