Gourmet Champagne and Cooking Day Trip

Premium Veuve Clicqout tour and tasting, gourmet cooking with Champagne, and sunset vineyard toast in Epernay.

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Gourmet Day Trip from Paris to Champagne

Enjoy an exclusive day of Champagne from the cellars to the vineyards, with a cooking lesson in between. Lovely countryside, a quaint city and bubbles throughout the day!  High speed rail to and from Reims makes it an easy day trip. You’ll experience the legendary Veuve cellars, a gourmet lunch and a sunset toast. How perfect.

Note: Currently by private option only. Contact us for pricing and details.  Read our customer reviews.

Premium Champagne Day Tour Itinerary

After arriving via TGV rail from Paris, you’ll meet at the Reims Tourist Office and set off in your private, air conditioned and comfortable minivan.

You will start your day with a very special on site experience at the Veuve cellars.

Get ready to compare 3 cuvées: Brut Yellow Label and Brut Rosé in a Magnum (larger bottles are said to highlight subtler flavors) and La Grande Dame 2015.  Interesting sights in the old chalk cellars include carefully preserved stores of early bottles, among the first “yellow labels”, as well as the faint etchings of red crosses, alluding to the use of the cellars as field hospitals and refuges during World War I.

The widow Clicquot was a pioneer in popularizing Champagne and creating techniques for perfecting the bubbly treat since 1810. Under French law, no woman could be in business unless she was a widow. Upon her husband’s death when she was 28, she agreed to train in wine-making to prove herself to her father-in-law, and subsequently took over the business. She cannily put Champagne forward as an upper class drink of celebration, gaining the favor of the Russian royal family and by extension all the royal houses of Europe. Among many accomplishments, Madame Clicquot found a way around shipping blockades caused by the Napoleonic Wars, just a small part of her fascinating and long life (she died at 89). It is said when she was asked about the quality of her wines, she answered: “we have only one quality, the finest”. This is still the company’s motto.

Next, a wonderful lunch.

You’ll drive a short way to a chef’s atelier right next to Reims cathedral. Enjoy creating a two course lunch with appropriate wines, per your menu preferences. Champagne is gaining appreciation among chefs as a light yet palate-teasing accompaniment to food. Sample menus might include refined offerings such as slow-poached fish in souchong tea, carrot puree finished with Champagne, or smoky pork tenderloin. Atelier founder Chef Éric Geoffroy worked at 5 star hotels in England and Canada before returning to his hometown of Reims and pursuing his cooking school dream.

After the hands-on but fun cooking experience, you’ll either have a walking tour of central Reims and the cathedral, or drive to the quaint, hilly village of Hautvillers, for a walking tour of this small village. You will see the very burial place of Dom Perignon, the monk said to have created Champagne. Art aficionados might prefer the cathedral visit, if only to see the stunning stained glass windows created by immortal artists such as Marc Chagall. The cathedral is still marked by the machine gun shelling of World War I, and some ornamental gargoyles show chilling remains of the lead that poured out of their mouths due to the fires resulting from relentless aerial bombardment by the Germans.

The day finishes with a drive to the upper vineyards above Epernay and a sunset toast with sabrage – yes you are invited to try it yourself! If you have never heard of sabering, it’s the means by which a cavalry sword (in this day and age a special sabering knife) expertly slices a cork out of a bottle. It goes back to Napoleon (of course), who liked to say he celebrated his wins with Champagne and consoled himself over his losses with…. Champagne. His elite Hussar cavalrymen followed suit, opening the bottles their own unique way.

You’ll return to Reims in time for the evening train back to Paris.  Overnight stay in Reims available.  Contact us for details.

Cancellation and Refund Policies

Due to the small group aspect of all of our tours, our cancellation policy is as follows. More than 7 days before tour date – 100% refundable; from 7 to 3 days before tour date – 50% refundable; less than 3 days – non-refundable. If cancelling please contact us as soon as possible to insure we can credit you properly.

More Information

Occasionally, last minute or high season rail prices will be higher than the prices listed above. We will always contact you before booking if this is the case. If you are not booking your rail through LinkParis.com, please do not book your train tickets until the correct rail times are confirmed by us. Rail tickets are emailed as a .pdf document for home printing or downloading into your phone/mobile device. 

What Others Say About Link Paris

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Why we love Champagne – Besides the obvious (it is delicious), visiting the region that gave us the drink of celebration offers fascinating local history, engaging countryside drives and upscale food. One of France’s not-so-hidden gems.  John