History
Edmond de Ayala founded his Aÿ house in 1860. Its chronology connects a nineteenth-century dry style with an English market, followed by a Bollinger-family acquisition in 2005.
In 1865, five years after the founding, Edmond introduced a champagne described at the time as dry. The recorded dosage was 21 g/L. That historical terminology belongs to a period of much sweeter wines and should not be equated with today’s brut definition.
Edmond’s younger brother Fernand developed AYALA’s English trade. The house became a founding member of the Syndicat des Grandes Marques in 1882 and records a Royal Warrant in 1908. By the 1920s its annual production had reached a million bottles. The two brothers therefore played different roles in the brand’s early expansion.
The Bollinger family purchased AYALA in 2005. A new winery followed in 2007, the same year the house launched Brut Nature. Ownership did not merge the two Aÿ names into one visitor estate: AYALA’s current address is 1 rue Edmond-de-Ayala, with its own cellars and booking programmes.
Brut Nature’s defining feature is the absence of dosage. The current blend is 55% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 15% Meunier. Chardonnay also forms more than half the blends across the modern range, while the production account describes separate vinification by cru, grape variety and harvest.
The Aÿ hillside cellars provide ageing on lees for at least three years across the range. AYALA’s craftsmanship account identifies 120 small stainless-steel vats for micro-vinification and a reserve library built from previous harvests. Its named sourcing areas extend from the Côte des Blancs to the Vitryat and Côte des Bar.
Perle 2015 carries an older cellar technique into a contemporary release: at least eight years under natural cork, riddling on wooden pupitres, manual disgorgement and another year of cellar rest before shipment. Its blend is 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir from five Grand Crus, including Aÿ. The product documents those practices for this wine.
Three current AYALA experiences
Introduction to the AYALA style costs from €30 per person and lasts 30 minutes, with up to fifteen people. This is a guided tasting without a cellar tour. Brut Majeur is followed by a choice of Rosé Majeur, Brut Nature or Le Blanc de Blancs A/19. The official page offers French and English bookings, checked October 2026. Book the Introduction.
The AYALA Experience costs from €60 per person for 90 minutes. It includes the cellars and three champagnes: Brut Majeur, either Rosé Majeur or Brut Nature, and Le Blanc de Blancs A/19. French and English sessions are advertised. The URL still contains “prestige-visit”, but the current product title is The AYALA Experience, checked October 2026. Book the AYALA Experience.
The AYALA Vintage Experience is a 90-minute visit for up to fifteen people, from €105 per person. Its four pours are Brut Majeur, Le Blanc de Blancs and two vintage champagnes. The current page exposes an English booking option; it does not name the two vintage bottles. The price and programme were checked October 2026. Book the Vintage Experience.
Chardonnay and 120 micro-vats
AYALA’s defining white grape is Chardonnay, which forms more than half of the blends across its current range. Its craftsmanship account identifies six sourcing areas: Côte des Blancs, Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, Sézannais, Vitryat and Côte des Bar. Crus, grape varieties and harvest years are vinified separately before blending.
The house describes 120 small stainless-steel vats for micro-vinification and a library of reserve wines retained from earlier harvests. The chalk hillside cellars in Aÿ provide ageing on lees for at least three years across the range. Julian Gout is the cellar master named in the current craftsmanship account. These production details explain why the tasting compares several blends, despite every bottle being finished at one Aÿ site.
AYALA’s dated 2026 harvest report records grapes received from 79 crus, up from 73 in 2025, and more than 130 partner growers. It also describes the first harvest in a new winery after two years of construction, with 120 micro-vats supplemented by larger stainless-steel tanks and oak barrels. The dated report provides a more recent sourcing snapshot than undated estate summaries.
A dated 2026 harvest snapshot
The 2026 harvest report describes three spring frost events followed by heat and drought. AYALA records picking from 10 August in Montgueux and the Sézannais, eight to ten days earlier than its 2025 harvest. Grapes received by the house reached a reported potential alcohol of 12.61%. These are figures from AYALA’s own seasonal report, not a prediction for the next harvest or an opening date for visitor tours.
The bottles in the tasting: Brut Majeur, Nature and Rosé
Brut Majeur is the multi-vintage entry to the AYALA range. Its published blend is 55% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 15% Meunier, drawing on seventy crus. The house gives approximately three years on lees and 6 g/L dosage. It is included in all three visitor experiences, making it the common reference point for the tasting.
Brut Nature uses the same published grape proportions—55% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 15% Meunier—but has no dosage. AYALA launched this cuvée in 2007. Its product page states extended ageing without a current exact year count. It is one of the choices in both the Introduction and AYALA Experience, so the booked selection determines whether that zero-dosage comparison is included.
Rosé Majeur combines twenty-four crus. The technical specification gives 51% Chardonnay, 39% Pinot Noir and 10% Meunier, with a 5% Grand Cru red-wine component identified separately. Average ageing is three years on lees, and dosage is 6 g/L. The red wine is made from Pinot Noir; the finished sparkling blend still has a Chardonnay majority.
A/19, Perle 2015 and the Collection
Le Blanc de Blancs A/19 is entirely Chardonnay from the 2019 harvest. Its six crus are Chouilly, Cramant, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Cuis and Vaudemange. The technical page gives six years on lees on average and 5 g/L dosage. A/19 is included in both cellar experiences; it also appears among the second-pour choices for the shorter Introduction.
Perle 2015 is 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir, entirely from the Grand Crus of Chouilly, Cramant, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger and Aÿ. AYALA ages it for at least eight years under natural cork, riddles on traditional wooden pupitres and disgorges by hand. The published dosage is 5 g/L, followed by a year of cellar rest before shipment. Perle is not promised by name among the two unspecified vintage pours.
The Collection AYALA is a separate sequence of limited editions. N°18 is a Blanc de Blancs sourced exclusively from the house’s own Aÿ vineyard. N°16 combines Chardonnay with Arbane, Petit Meslier and Pinot Blanc. N°14 is a 2014 rosé produced in 7,235 bottles. These names distinguish experimental releases from Brut Majeur and the regularly advertised A/19.
Aÿ before or after the appointment
L’Atelier by Patrick Baillet is at 6 place Henri-Martin, with +33 3 26 55 44 26. The Hautvillers tourist office lists it as a chocolate, pastry and tea-room address, with food to eat in or take away and a twenty-four-seat terrace. It provides a named village food stop without attributing lunch service to AYALA itself.
Le Clos d’Aÿ, 17 rue Jules-Lobet, is a nineteenth-century guesthouse with four rooms and suites in the tourist-office directory. Courtyard parking is limited and requested with the room reservation. The accommodation guide supplies Booking.com links; the Aÿ guide maps Pressoria at 11 boulevard Pierre-Cheval and the village heritage trail.
Access and facilities
Visits and tastings are reserved Tuesday–Saturday. AYALA opens its boutique Monday–Saturday between 09:00 and noon, then 14:00–17:00. AYALA requests arrival ten minutes before the appointment. Its cellar experiences involve numerous stairs and cool underground temperatures; the tasting-only Introduction is a separate product. Discuss access needs with the visitor service, as no complete wheelchair specification is published here.
AYALA is at 1 rue Edmond-de-Ayala, 51160 Aÿ. The house places Aÿ station a ten-minute walk away, Épernay station a ten-minute drive away and Champagne-Ardenne TGV a thirty-minute drive away. These are the operator’s published indicative times. The visitor contact is visite@champagne-ayala.fr or +33 3 26 55 15 44.
Plan nearby visits
Build your visit into a fuller stay with our Aÿ guide, compare tours and packages and find somewhere comfortable to stay.
Plan your trip to Aÿ
Get there
Book a tour
Select the departure point and date on the booking page. Check the meeting point, language and inclusions before paying.
Compare toursWe may earn a commission if you book through these links, at no extra cost to you.