The best hikes from bus stations around Épernay

The Avenue de Champagne in Épernay is a prestigious 1.6-kilometer-long avenue known as the "richest avenue in the world" for its millions of bottles of champagne in underground cellars. Along the avenue are famous champagne houses, historic villas, gardens, and two listed monuments: the City Hall and Château Perrier. The avenue is the city's main tourist attraction and the scene of events such as the "Soirée Blanche" and "Habits de Lumière." Since 2015, the avenue has been part of the Champagne UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Some of the buildings are monumental and an expression of capital - but even the small winemakers have very good champagnes to offer that are in no way inferior to the big houses!

The beginning of the most famous street in the entire Champagne region, with a selection of renowned champagne houses on either side of the avenue, each more chic - or more pompous - than the last.

Champagnes Mercier Blanc de Noir is described as the house's iconic champagne. It contains only Pinot Noir (80%) and Pinot Menunier (20%), hence the name. Mercier Brut contains 20% Chardonnay and a relatively high proportion of Pinot Meunier, which prevents the champagne from aging optimally. This champagne is sold young and should be consumed quickly. Mercier Brut Millésimé contains 50% Chardonnay, primarily from the Montagne de Reims. The grapes used are from a single vintage. Mercier Brut Rosé, a rosé champagne, is made of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Pinot Meunier. Mercier Cuvée Boulle d'Or is the prestige cuvée. Formerly sold under the name Réserve de l'Émpereur, this champagne, which is only produced in small quantities, contains 60% Chardonnay. The bottle bears no vintage. Pinot Meunier produces a lively, fresh, and floral champagne. The vine is winter-hardy, and the grape ripens early in the autumn, increasing the chances of a good harvest in the northern Champagne region. The fact that the wine from this grape doesn't age as well isn't a problem for a house like Mercier; they prefer an accessible, fresh, and affordable champagne.[2] Source: Wikipedia

Mercier owns 225 hectares of vineyards in 20 crus, but also buys harvests from contract growers to supplement its own grape harvest. Some of the grapes come from the less-regarded departments of Aisne and Aube, located a considerable distance from Épernay. This allows the wine to be produced more cheaply than that of other Champagne houses. Mercier champagnes cost half or less than those of Champagne houses like Taittinger and Moët & Chandon. Mercier sells approximately 7 million bottles of champagne annually. The Mercier Champagne House is part of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH). This holding company owns several Champagne houses, namely Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Canard-Duchêne, Ruinart, and Henriot.

Mercier is a popular champagne company, founded in 1858 by Eugène Mercier. Mercier has always used advertising designed to entice the masses to drink champagne. In 1889, Mercier presented a cask at the World's Fair in Paris that could hold 210,000 bottles of champagne. In 1900, thousands of visitors to the World's Fair, champagne glasses in hand, were allowed to float over Paris in a large balloon. At the Espace Mercier in Épernay, you can visit the giant cask and ride an electric train through part of the 18-kilometer cellars carved into the limestone cliffs.

In 2011[9], the idea for the current Museum of Champagne and Regional Archaeology was born. The project was approved by the French Ministry of Culture in 2014, and in 2016 the renovation work was entrusted to the architectural firm Frenak + Jullien. Work began in 2018, under the supervision of the chief architect of historical monuments Lionel Dubois. Château Perrier has now been restored and contains one of the most important archaeological exhibits in France, with some 80,000 regional artefacts (dating from the Paleolithic to the Early Middle Period) and 4,000 artefacts relating to the history of Champagne wine (since 1960).[10]

The Château Perrier, at number 13, was built from 1852 to 1857[9] by the architect Pierre-Eugène Cordier, in an eclectic Louis XIII style. In 1854[10], the couple Pierre-Nicolas Perrier, a cork manufacturer, and Adèle Jouët (the founders of the Perrier-Jouët champagne house), who had married in 1811, commissioned the construction of this castle. The four facades are inspired by the architecture of the French Renaissance, to the Parisian image of the Palais du Luxembourg, the Palais des Tuileries or the Lescot of the Louvre. The facades are a play of colours with materials such as brick, natural stone, slate and glass.