Hautvillers

Hautvillers: 6 km from Épernay

Hautvillers tourist office places the village 6 km by road from Épernay and 26 km from Reims. Épernay station is listed 6 km away; the regional office identifies the Reims–Épernay TER route and its intermediate stations at Rilly-la-Montagne, Germaine, Avenay-Val-d’Or and Aÿ. Hautvillers itself has no stop on that list.

The village’s named sights are Saint-Sindulphe church, Dom Pérignon’s statue in parc Pierre Cheval, 140 wrought-iron signs, the Belvédère Dom Pérignon and the Croix Joseph panorama towards Saint-Imoges. The tourist-office village plan shows these as separate stops around the streets and vineyard edge.

Saint-Sindulphe is public; Saint-Pierre Abbey is private

The Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Pierre was founded around 650 by Saint Nivard. Dom Pierre Pérignon arrived in 1668 at the age of 29 and managed the monastery’s property for 47 years, until his death in 1715. The tourist office credits his work on blending with improving the quality of the abbey’s wines; it does not establish the familiar myth that he single-handedly invented sparkling wine.

Saint-Pierre Abbey is now Moët & Chandon’s private property and is not open to visits. The neighbouring Saint-Sindulphe church contains Dom Pérignon’s tomb and relics of Saint Helena. Use the church’s public door; an open church does not grant access to the abbey grounds.

The tourist office publishes seasonal church hours and exceptional closures. Those details are carried on its Hautvillers visitor page; older seasonal notices must not be treated as a permanent annual calendar. The free church stop is distinct from a paid Champagne tasting.

140 signs and a 28-sign discovery trail

Hautvillers’s wrought-iron signs depict occupations, interests and the identities of householders. The tourist office counts 140 around the village and offers a circuit focusing on 28 emblematic signs. Its guided Le nez en l’air walk lasts 90 minutes; Sur les pas de Dom Pérignon lasts one hour.

The ruelle des Quatre Frères has 90 steps near rue des Buttes. The passage des Moines, also called ruelle du Cul de Lampe, lies near the church. Ruelle Lécaillon, near rue Henri Martin, ends at a view over the Marne Valley. These named lanes provide a route beyond the usual church-and-tasting stop.

Parc Pierre Cheval contains Juan Carlos Carrillo’s bronze Dom Pérignon statue, inaugurated in June 2022. The tourist office describes it as nearly three metres high and weighing 700 kg. The nearby Belvédère Dom Pérignon and the Croix Joseph site are named panoramic stops, not private vineyard access points.

Published walks from the village

The Circuit des Moines starts at Parking du Jard Kiedrich: 3 km, approximately one hour. The Boucle de Bellevue starts at place de la République: 8 km, approximately 2 hours 40 minutes. The botanical Rinsillons route is 4.2 km, approximately one hour. These are the tourist office’s published route figures, not estimates for the walk from Épernay.

Bulles et Croquis starts at Jard Kiedrich and runs for 6 km, with an indicative 90-minute duration. The Pic Noir route starts at Parking Briqueterie and has options of 1.8–2.5 km, taking one to two hours. The official village page lists longer routes separately, so an 8 km circuit should not be presented as the same outing as a one-hour church walk.

G. Tribaut: a named Hautvillers appointment

Champagne G. Tribaut is at 88 rue d’Eguisheim. Its own site provides contact@champagne-tribaut-hautvillers.com and +33 3 26 59 40 57. The tourist office lists a 30-minute individual visit and a 90-minute group visit, with vaulted cellars, winery and presses in the visitor description.

The tourist-office calendar for G. Tribaut lists Monday–Saturday reception during January and February 2026 and Monday–Sunday from March through December, with groups reserved at least three weeks ahead. Those are a dated 2026 listing; the house’s direct contact is the booking route for a future date. A language or appointment is not guaranteed by the presence of an English website.

The village tourist-office directory also lists Champagne Pierre Fedyk, with individual reception and group reservations. Use the producer listing for the live contact route. No unverified tasting price or fixed cellar programme is assigned to this grower.

Au 36, Clotaire and the village market

Au 36 is at 36 rue Dom Pérignon and is listed as a Champagne bar and local-food address. The tourist office describes a changing selection from Hautvillers and neighbouring growers. Book through contact@au36.net or +33 3 26 51 58 37. This is a named tasting-and-food stop, a tasting-and-food reception without an advertised cellar tour.

The village’s official restaurant list includes Le Café d’Hautvillers for traditional brasserie dishes, Clotaire for bistronomic cooking, L’Atelier des Moines for small dishes and local produce, Le Clos des Arches for Champagne and tea, and Le Clos Haton for Champagne and sharing plates. The list provides alternatives within Hautvillers without importing a Reims restaurant.

The village food market is on Thursday morning at Parking du Jard Kiedrich. The official village page lists fruit and vegetables, meat and charcuterie, and cheese. Jard Kiedrich also appears as the departure point for several walking circuits.

Transfers and stays

The official road distance from Épernay is 6 km. The Getting There guide links named taxi and bicycle-hire operators for the Épernay area.

The village directs car visitors to signed parking before exploring on foot. Jard Kiedrich has free bus parking; the tourist office identifies toilets at Jard Kiedrich and near the church, with a winter closure notice for the latter. The 90 steps in ruelle des Quatre Frères mean that particular lane cannot be assumed step-free.

Search Find stays in Hautvillers,%20France ↗">Hautvillers accommodation for a village stay or Find stays in %C3%89pernay,%20France ↗">central Épernay accommodation for the station and avenue. Booking.com links use CJ affiliate links; we may earn commission from eligible reservations. Aÿ provides another village base, with its own station and Pressoria.

Aÿ, the Marne and Épernay

Aÿ’s Musardises circuit has 19 interpretation stops; Pressoria occupies 11 boulevard Pierre Cheval and lists a 90-minute average visit. Épernay’s avenue has the €25 Mercier Founder cellar visit and €48 Moët Imperial Moment, checked October 2026. These destinations need their own bookings and transfers from Hautvillers.

The Champagne UNESCO property includes the historic slopes around Hautvillers, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. The separate Reims property includes Notre-Dame, the Palais du Tau and former Saint-Remi Abbey, inscribed in 1991. A Hautvillers vineyard outing and a Reims cathedral visit therefore cover different World Heritage components.

The abbey before Dom Pérignon

Union des Maisons de Champagne records successive destructions at Hautvillers: the Normans in 882, English forces in 1449 and Huguenots in 1564. Catherine de Médicis contributed to its rebuilding. These episodes precede Dom Pérignon’s arrival in 1668 and explain why the present abbey complex cannot be described as an intact building from its foundation around 650.

The abbey followed the Benedictine reform associated with Saints Vanne and Hydulphe. The UMC heritage account places that reform movement in Lorraine in 1604 and records the monastery’s dismantling in 1793. Dom Pérignon’s 1668–1715 cellar-mastership sits between that 17th-century revival and the French Revolution.

Hautvillers’s inhabitants are called Altavillois, from the village’s elevated position. The abbey overlooks the Marne Valley; the World Heritage mission describes the relationship between the forest above, vineyard slopes and agricultural plain below. Its two village observation points are places to read that landscape, with the village and abbey occupying the transition between forest and vines.

Joseph Desruets: an 1888 press and priced visits

Champagne Joseph Desruets dates its family winegrowing to 1888 and still uses its historic Darcq Flamain press. The official visitor route starts at the family press on rue Saint-Vincent and continues through the oak-barrel cellar and nearby winery. Book through the estate’s own visitor page.

The official cellar visit is €25 per person for 45 minutes, by reservation (checked October 2026). The estate’s 90-minute vineyard walk costs €60 per person with a tasting, and can be self-guided or accompanied according to the selected arrangement. The sabrage option is €40 per bottle, with initiation included, as an addition to a visit formula.

Joseph Desruets lists Cuvée Signature, Cuvée Nature, Cuvée des Roses and Cuvée Cœur de Pinots in its classic range. It also produces still Coteaux Champenois, including Boujon d’Avril and Monsieur Edmond. The house describes the use of indigenous yeasts and micro-cuvées aged in Burgundy and Champagne oak barrels; the visit reaches production spaces as well as the press.

Two different Gobillard addresses

Champagne J-M. Gobillard & Fils is at 38 rue de l’Église. Reims Tourisme gives its direct visitor contact as caveau@champagne-gobillard.com and +33 3 26 51 00 24. The rue de l’Église location makes it a separate stop from G. Tribaut’s rue d’Eguisheim address.

Champagne Pierre Gobillard is another producer, at 341 rue des Côtes de l’Héry. The Hautvillers tourist office lists cellar visits, bottle-dressing spaces and a group visit averaging 60 minutes, with parking on site. Contact info@champagne-gobillard-pierre.com or +33 3 26 59 45 66 for the relevant visit.

The Pierre Gobillard listing sets different minima for its group offers: eight for a group tasting and twenty for a group visit and tasting, with a quotation requested. These conditions describe the group product; they do not establish a walk-in individual cellar tour. J-M. Gobillard and Pierre Gobillard have different names, entrances and booking contacts.

Named stays within Hautvillers

La Chevalée is at 53 rue Henri Martin. The tourist office lists four rooms, a total capacity of eight, an enclosed parking area and a garden. Its own accommodation page describes 45-square-metre suites with vineyard views, an outdoor heated pool, breakfast and overnight private parking. The address serves a stay with Champagne Fedyk rather than a central Épernay hotel.

The La Chevalée room page specifies arrival from 17:00 to 19:00 and departure at 10:30 (checked October 2026). Overnight parking is associated with the room reservation; daytime parking has separate conditions. A request for an accessible room or step-free pool access needs the property’s reply: the tourism listing identifies an upper floor, and the suite facilities alone do not establish a step-free route.

Joseph Desruets lists four Hautvillers accommodation names on its own website: Le Puech Loubio, Le Clos de Renée, Au Louis d’Or and La Cathédrale des Champs. The first and third are rooms in a winegrower’s house; Le Clos de Renée is a gîte. La Cathédrale des Champs is an apartment on the producer’s working property, with a bath and an additional sofa-bed arrangement.

The Desruets accommodation links open each specific property’s booking route. The neighbouring production building is the same family business that runs the historic-press visit, so a stay can be paired with a separate 45-minute cellar reservation. The property page does not make the vineyard walk or sabrage a free inclusion in every night’s booking.

Parking, bicycles, picnics and the tourist office

The official village information directs cars to avenue de Chandon and Jard Kiedrich. It identifies bicycle parking at place de la République, parc Pierre Cheval, the picnic area Les Tuileau and the school-restaurant courtyard on rue Henri Martin between numbers 68 and 98. These named locations provide an alternative to leaving bicycles against a private house entrance.

Picnic tables are identified at the rue de l’Aubrois viewpoint, Jard Kiedrich and Pont Malo beside the cycle route. The village lists a children’s play area at Prés Jaumés and tennis and padel courts on rue de l’Aubrois. The viewpoint picnic area is different from a producer’s booked tasting terrace.

The intercommunal tourist office is on place de la République, telephone +33 3 26 57 06 35. It sells the village map and publications including Michel Jolyot’s Hautvillers, Aimé Adnet’s village history and Vincent Pelbois’s work on Pierre Pérignon. The mairie, by contrast, is at 123 rue Henri Martin; it is not the tourist-office tour meeting point.

Inside Saint-Sindulphe: stalls, façades and winter hours

The tourist office dates much of Saint-Sindulphe’s present church to the 16th century and its choir stalls to the 17th. Its description identifies Romanesque and Gothic elements in the façade, reflecting successive rebuilding campaigns. The church has been protected as a Historic Monument since 1983. The religious community left the abbey in 1791, when its property was nationalised.

The official church entry gives free admission and does not allow animals. Its winter calendar runs from 1 November 2026 to 28 February 2027, with daily opening from 10:00 to 16:00; exceptional closures include 25 December and 1 January 2027. The October calendar gives 09:00–18:00, shortened on Wednesday to 16:15, and a 16:00 closure on 30 October (checked October 2026).

Relics of Saint Helena were taken to Saint-Leu in Paris, with a portion later returned to Hautvillers, according to the church’s official tourism description. Dom Pérignon’s grave in the choir and the surviving stalls connect the public church to the former monastic community. This interior can be visited without entering the neighbouring private abbey.

Follow the actual walking sheet

PR68 Circuit des Moines is supplied to Cirkwi by the Marne tourism agency. Its technical record gives 3.1 km, 49 metres of ascent, and a height range of 160–204 metres; the village’s rounded listing calls it 3 km. Download the GPX or official PDF from the route page for the marked circuit, whose start is given as montée Saint-Vincent.

The Boucle de Bellevue sheet begins on Hautvillers’s main square, follows rue de Bacchus towards the vineyards and enters the forest. It reaches the Fontaine-aux-Fresnes and Rinsillons forest road, then passes Bellevue and Champillon before returning through the vineyard and forest. The route uses white-and-red GR14 marks and yellow local waymarking.

The published 8 km, 2-hour-40-minute Bellevue walk includes road crossings and a passage under the N51. It is a wider hill-and-forest route through Champillon, separate from the village’s 90-minute guided sign tour. The official downloadable sheet gives junction instructions and the return past the wash house; use that sheet as the route rather than treating the names as an unmarked shortcut.

The regional park’s Si Hautvillers m’était conté brochure uses clues and old postcards to identify village streets and monuments. It is a self-guided heritage activity with a downloadable booklet, while Le nez en l’air is the tourist office’s guided sign walk. The two formats answer different booking needs: a booklet route and an accompanied appointment.

Jean-Philippe Bosser: 109 rue de Bacchus

Jean-Philippe Bosser’s own visitor page offers a tasting space and a landscaped courtyard at 109 rue de Bacchus. In the warmer months the Champagne can be accompanied by cheese and charcuterie boards. The estate also makes its collection of old tools available for an independent look, adding a named craft-history stop on rue de Bacchus.

Cellar visits require advance reservation. The official page embeds the Rue des Vignerons booking service and provides a contact form plus champagne-jp-bosser@orange.fr if the displayed dates do not match. The published weekly hours are 10:00–17:30 on Monday and Wednesday–Saturday, closed Tuesday and Sunday (checked October 2026).

The estate’s classic bottles include Brut Tradition, Brut Rosé, Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru and Prestige Premier Cru, with a separate Ratafia champenois. The range names identify what the producer sells; the booked tasting description determines the three wines actually poured. Bosser’s rue de Bacchus location is a different reception from Joseph Desruets’s historic press on rue Saint-Vincent.

From Épernay station: routes by car, bicycle and foot

Épernay station to Saint-Sindulphe church: about 5.8 km, 8 minutes driving. Open this OpenStreetMap route.

Épernay station to Saint-Sindulphe church: about 6.1 km, 20 minutes cycling. Open this OpenStreetMap route.

Épernay station to Saint-Sindulphe church: about 5.8 km, 78 minutes walking. Open this OpenStreetMap route.

Each distance follows the named route to Saint-Sindulphe church. Cycle and pedestrian routes can differ from the road route. Never drink and drive; cycle hire does not remove the need for a sober rider.