Champagne Country

"Brother, come quickly, I'm drinking stars!" So proclaimed Dom Perignon when he first tasted the bubbly he invented. The blind Benedictine monk gave the world its most famous sparkling wine and its most celebratory drink. Today along the Route Touristique du Champagne you can visit the caves (cellars) of the great champagne houses, including Pommery and Taittinger. The center of this wine-producing district is Reims, 90 miles (144 km) northeast of Paris. Here you can see one of the world's greatest Gothic cathedrals. Dating from the 13th century, it was almost reduced to rubble in World War I, but was painstakingly rebuilt from a ...

"Brother, come quickly, I'm drinking stars!" So proclaimed Dom Perignon when he first tasted the bubbly he invented. The blind Benedictine monk gave the world its most famous sparkling wine and its most celebratory drink. Today along the Route Touristique du Champagne you can visit the caves (cellars) of the great champagne houses, including Pommery and Taittinger. The center of this wine-producing district is Reims, 90 miles (144 km) northeast of Paris. Here you can see one of the world's greatest Gothic cathedrals. Dating from the 13th century, it was almost reduced to rubble in World War I, but was painstakingly rebuilt from a Rockefeller grant. A highlight of the district is to travel the route from Reims to Épernay, site of some of the world's most famous champagne houses, taking in the three greatest wine-growing districts: Montagne de Reims, Côte des Blanc, and Valée de la Marne. The champagne district is a region in the middle of northern France midway between Calais and Alsace.

About the Expert

Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince have written many guidebooks for Frommer's, including Frommer's France and Frommer's Germany.