asking forWhen you are in the Champagne region you can not leave before having visited some off the cellars:

In Reims: Lanson G.H. Mumm Piper Heidsieck Pommery Louis Roederer Ruinart Taittinger Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin In Ludes: Canard Duchêne In Épernay De Castelane Demoiselle - Vranken Mercier Moët & Chandon Perrier Jouët Pol Roger In Tours sur Marne Laurent-Perrier

If this is your first time in the Champagne region I recommend going to Mercier. Here you will be introduced to Champagne and you can drive around in the Cellars on a train.

A Champagne lover should go to Moët & Chandon at least once in his/her life. They have a beautiful cellar and an even more beautiful gift shop.

If you are fit you will enjoy de Castelane they offer a fairly sizeable museum and one can climb the stairs  to oversee Epernay form the tower. The Champagnes of Castelane are not spectacularly good however at Castelane you can see the modern production process. At other producers they show you pupitres and other nostalgic production methods that were used in the previous age.

A similar museum may be found at Ruinart en Mumm in Reims. De chalk cellars of Ruinart are the most beautiful in the region and if you are really nice to the tour guide you may even get a glass of "R" or Millésimé 1990 at the end of the tour. Mum is worth while since they have the full pupitre collection from 1800 t/m 2000.

Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot are worth a trip as well, if only to taste something decent for a change. At both houses you have to make an appointment.

note: Do yourself a favor: Don't go to all the houses in one trip. First of all this is not enjoyable and secondly you have nothing else to do the next time you go.

TIP:

 

People who have read this site will probably be able to regularly rectify the studentguides who take them through the cellars or even complement their stories.If you want real information it is best to present yourself at the Champagnehouses while emphasising the fact that you are not a tourist.With a bit of luck they will provide a specialist and give you better stuff to taste.

In the case that you forgot to present yourself at one of the houses and don't feel for the tourist treatment I recommend taking the car or the bus along the Route Touristique and simply call on the smaller Champagne houses along the road. No need to tell you that you'll have to speak a little French. For they speak little English and certainly no Dutch there.

If you carry a Dutch numberplate I advise you to cover it up before entering the producers yard (or park round the corner).Many producers in the Champagne are not overly enthousiastic about the Dutch. The average Dutchman has a habit of consuming more than he will buy, which is a commercial set back for any Champagne producer, so do yourself and me a favour. If you find something you like, buy a few bottles or rather a few boxes and refrain yourself from asking for half bottles or sample boxes. Whatever happens you should buy something, if only to compensate the producer for the champagne he poured. If you have to behave like a Dutchman go to one of the tourist traps where they are used to dealing with the Dutch and where you pay by the glass.

Being barked at by a fearsome dog means that visitors are not wanted. More often though you will be welcomed and producers will gladly talk with you about their produce while sharing a few glasses of their own brew with you. I advise you though to take Juhlin's Champagne bible along. In this book you will find an impartial judgement of the quality of the producers and their products.I noticed that as the day proceeds this book comes in very handy. After tasting some twenty glasses my sense of judgement has a habit of waning while my spirits willl soar by the hour. The moment that Juhlin starts to differ too much from your own perceptions you will need your beauty sleep.

 

By the way, I recommend to take along a person who is not very fond of Champagne (or someone who is very fond of you). This individual is the designated driver. Don't even think of driving yourself while making a Champagne tasting tour. Gendarmes take a dim vieuw of tourists anyway and happen to be deft hands at spotting intoxicated ones: tasting four glasses of Champagne means confiscated driving licence... Parties touring in a minibus have a double advantage. They dispose of a sober driver and are in sufficient numbers to spark the  commercial interest of the average Champagnefarmer to make him open a few bottles, the more so if you tell him that you represent some or other society, guild or any other wine related crowd. The real bluffer will pretend to be a wine journalist or a wine buyer. This will surely entice the producer to open up some really good bottles.