Champagne wine region

Champagne (French pronunciation: [ʃɑ̃paɲ] ) was a province in the northeast of the Kingdom of France, now best known as the Champagne wine region for the sparkling white wine that bears its name in modern-day France. The County of Champagne, descended from the early medieval kingdom of Austrasia, passed to the French crown in 1314. Formerly ruled by the counts of Champagne, its western edge is about 160 km (100 miles) east of Paris. The cities of Troyes, Reims, and Épernay are the commercial centers of the area. In 1956, most of Champagne became part of the French administrative region of Champagne-Ardenne, which comprised four departments: Ardennes, Aube, Haute-Marne, and Marne. From 1 January 2016, Champagne-Ardenne merged with the adjoining regions of Alsace and Lorraine to form the new region of Grand Est.

Cramant (French pronunciation: [kʁamɑ̃]) is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.

Jacques Selosse is a Champagne producer and grower based in the Avize region of Champagne. The house has been rated as one of Champagne’s top five producers by Andrew Jefford in The New France.

Avize (French pronunciation: [aviz]) is a commune in the Marne department in northeastern France.

Chouilly (French pronunciation: [ʃuji]) is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.

Cuis is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.

The Centre Vinicole – Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte (CV-CNF) is the oldest union of producers of champagne. It comprises 82 winemaking cooperatives representing more than 5000 vineyards, situated on a hill in the commune of Chouilly, on the road leading to Pierry, and overlooks the community of Épernay.

Grauves (French pronunciation: [ɡʁov]) is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.

Mercier is a Champagne producer based in the Épernay region of Champagne. The house, founded in 1858 by Eugène Mercier (who died in 1904), produces both vintage and non-vintage cuvée, which is stored in 18 km (11 mi) long cellar tunnels located 30 m (98 ft) underground. Parts of the cellar are open to the public, where visitors can use rail carts to navigate the tunnels. Today, the house owns 576 ha (1,423 acres) of vineyards. Mercier owned the original rights to the name Dom Pérignon but gave the brand to Moët et Chandon in 1927. Today the house is under the umbrella of the LVMH group and is the number one selling brand of Champagne in the domestic French market.

L'Avenue de Champagne (The Champagne Avenue) is a famous street located in Épernay, the 'Capital of champagne', in the Grand Est Région of France. Its name derives from the presence of many leading champagne producers such as Moët et Chandon, Mercier and De Castellane. Located on a major historical trade route between France and Germany, the avenue attracted champagne merchants as early as the 18th century. Residents say that this avenue is the most expensive in the world, more so than the Champs-Élysées in Paris, because of the millions of bottles of champagne stored in the kilometres of chalk cellars beneath it. The cellars and the above-ground part of the avenue were both inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2015 (as part of the Champagne hillsides, houses and cellars site) for its testimony to the history of champagne, its development and sale, and the advent of a unique and preeminent agro-industrial system. The avenue also house a research center and Fort Chabrol that was founded to study and mitigate the effects of Grape phylloxera on the quality and production of champagne. It has become a tourist attraction for Épernay and the Région; the biggest champagne producers organise visits to show how the drink is produced and stored.

Gosset, founded in 1584, is the oldest wine house in Champagne. In 1584, Pierre Gosset, alderman of Aÿ and wine-grower, made still, mostly red, wines from the grapes he harvested from his own vines. In those days, two wines vied for pride of place at the table to the Kings of France: the wine of Aÿ and, from some hundreds of leagues further South, the wine of Beaune. Then, in the 18th century the wine made in around Aÿ began to bubble and the Gosset family turned naturally to the production of champagne.

De Castellane is a Champagne producer based in the Épernay region of Champagne. The house, founded in 1895, produces both vintage and non-vintage cuvee as well as a blanc de blancs Chardonnay Champagne. The house is currently under the ownership of Laurent-Perrier.