The Vignobles & Découvertes label aims to provide quality services and visits catering to wine tourism. The label appeals to a customer base that appreciates the world of wine without necessarily being connoisseurs, and offers a range of quality services: accommodation, cultural sites, leisure activities, cellar tours, restaurants, exploration of natural spaces, events and more.
Six destinations in Champagne have been awarded the label: Massif de Saint Thierry, vallée de l'Ardre, Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, Côte des Bar, Coteaux du Sézannais, and Coteaux Sud d'Epernay et Côte des Blancs.
Destination: Coteaux Sud d'Epernay et Côte des Blancs
The Côte des Blancs is at the heart of the history of champagne.
The region can be explored by following the Champagne Trail, which begins at the famous Avenue de Champagne, in Épernay, the historical capital of champagne.
The land and the landscape allow for two winegrowing areas with slightly different characteristics. Beyond the plain, on the outskirts of Plivot, the coteaux (slopes), appear near Chouilly and Cramant. Here, vineyards occupy a great many slopes of the plateau, which has deep gorges carved out of it by a series of rivers. The land is planted mainly with pinot meunier (56%), chardonnay (32%) and pinot noir (12%).
Beyond these villages, the landscape changes. An escarpment drops down steeply from the plain. The landscape is centred on a wooded summit, with vine-planted slopes extending from the heights right down to the convex plain, which curves round to make way for cereal crops. This area is thus ideally suited to chardonnay, which accounts for 97% of the grape varieties cultivated here, and is what gives the Côte des Blancs its name.
This region offers the following 69 tourism services:
- 20 wine cellars, including those of the Moët et Chandon champagne house in Épernay
- 11 places to stay, including the Hostellerie du Mont Aimé in Bergères-les-Vertus
- 6 restaurants, including La Briqueterie in Vinay
- 6 heritage sites, including the Vine and Wine Museum in Mesnil-sur-Oger
- 7 leisure activities, including the "Pétillantes Découvertes" vineyard mountain-bike tours in Monthelon
- 9 events, including the Pierry Art Fair in Pierry
- 1 tourist office in Épernay
- 4 receptive tour operators