Mosella Valley
The poet Ausonius wrote 'Mosella' (c. 371 AD), a love letter to Moselle Valley wines. Romans planted Champagne's first vines and established Reims (Durocortorum) as a major city. This trail explores Roman monuments and the birthplace of the world's most celebrated sparkling wine.
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Stops
- 1🗺️
Reims - Porte Mars & Roman Arch
On September 19, 1914, German shells hit Reims Cathedral. The bombardment lasted 1,051 days. By the end, the cathedral where every French king from Clovis to Charles X had been crowned was a roofless skeleton. Three hundred meters away, the Porte Mars — the widest Roman triumphal arch still standing anywhere, 33 meters across — survived without a scratch. When the war ended, the Champagne houses paid to rebuild the cathedral stone by stone. Moët, Pommery, Veuve Clicquot — their money put a roof back on France. The arch that Rome built outlasted everything. The cathedral that Champagne rebuilt stands beside it.
tour $ - 2🍷
Reims Champagne Houses in Roman Cellars
Taittinger, Ruinart, Veuve Clicquot, and Pommery all age Champagne in Roman chalk quarries (crayères). These cathedral-like cellars maintain perfect temperature and humidity. Walk through 2,000-year-old tunnels carved by Roman hands, now filled with millions of bottles.
tasting $$$ - 3⛰️
Épernay - Avenue de Champagne
The wealth isn't in the mansions. It's 30 meters underneath them. Beneath Moët & Chandon, Perrier-Jouët, and Pol Roger, 28 kilometers of tunnels cut into Roman chalk hold millions of bottles becoming Champagne in permanent darkness at 12°C. Moët alone produces 30 million bottles a year from these caves. Napoleon stopped here before battles to collect cases — he considered Champagne essential military supply. Walk the Avenue and you see facades. Descend into the caves and you're standing in the engine room — the cold, chalky silence where time and pressure do the only work that matters.
adventure $$$ - 4🗺️
Hautvillers - Dom Pérignon's Abbey
'Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!' — Dom Pérignon never said it. An ad man invented the quote in the 1800s. The real Dom Pérignon spent 47 years at this hillside abbey trying to PREVENT bubbles, which he considered a winemaking defect. What the Benedictine monk actually perfected was blending — assembling grapes from different villages into something no single vineyard could achieve alone. That technique is what makes Champagne Champagne. He's buried under a plain stone slab in the abbey church. Visitors leave corks on his grave. Moët named their most expensive bottle after the monk who hated bubbles.
tour $$ - 5🗺️
Cryptoporticus of Reims - Underground Roman Galleries
Hidden beneath Reims' city center, these 3rd-century underground galleries were part of the Roman forum. Walk through barrel-vaulted passageways where Roman merchants stored goods - including wine. Above ground, these same cellars now age Champagne.
tour $$ - 6🍷
Montagne de Reims Grand Cru Villages
The "Mountain of Reims" is actually a forested plateau surrounded by Grand Cru villages. Bouzy, Ambonnay, and Verzenay produce Champagne's finest Pinot Noir. Romans recognized this terroir - north-facing slopes with perfect chalk for vines they planted 2,000 years ago.
tasting $$$ - 7🍷
Côte des Blancs Grand Cru Chardonnay
The "White Coast" produces Champagne's finest Chardonnay. Cramant, Avize, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger - villages where Romans first discovered chalk slopes perfect for white grapes. Taste Blanc de Blancs Champagnes in cellars carved into the same chalk Romans quarried.
tasting $$$ - 8🗺️
Trier Day Trip - Roman Capital of the North
Cross into Germany to visit Augusta Treverorum (Trier) - Rome's greatest city north of the Alps. The Porta Nigra (Black Gate) is the largest Roman city gate surviving anywhere. This was the capital where emperors ruled and Moselle wines flowed.
tour $$