Montagne de Reims

Montagne de Reims: forest, Pinot Noir and named villages

The Montagne de Reims combines the forest plateau and vineyard villages between Reims and the Marne Valley. Union des Maisons de Champagne identifies Pinot Noir as its predominant grape, with Chardonnay especially associated with Trépail and Villers-Marmery. The regional park’s village guide includes Germaine, Hautvillers and Aÿ.

Grand Cru names on the Champagne appellation list include Ambonnay, Beaumont-sur-Vesle, Bouzy, Louvois, Mailly-Champagne, Puisieulx, Sillery, Verzenay and Verzy. Aÿ and Tours-sur-Marne also appear on the appellation’s Grand Cru list at the Marne edge. The Côte des Blancs has a separate familiar six-village group south of Épernay.

Faux de Verzy: a 3 km discovery loop

The park’s Balade des Faux is a 3 km loop through the twisted beech trees of Verzy forest. The park describes the route as suitable for families with pushchairs and people with reduced mobility; the protected trees stand behind barriers. The named Parking des Faux is one of the access points.

A Fau is a twisted beech. The regional-park federation describes around 800 at Verzy and explains that the discovery route protects their shallow roots. Stay on the marked route and outside the barriers: the trees are the protected attraction, not a climbing or picnic structure.

The longer Entre Vignes et Faux route is 9.7 km, with an indicative three-hour duration in the park’s walking selection. It is not the same route as the 3 km discovery loop. The GR145 and other local circuits extend beyond the accessible visitor loop; their gradients and surfaces need their own route sheet.

Phare de Verzenay: museum and 101 steps

The Phare de Verzenay and Musée de la Vigne stand on rue du Phare, Verzenay. The tower route climbs 101 steps to the viewpoint. The departmental tourist office lists a 90-minute average visit for the attraction and identifies the museum and tower as separate ticket components.

The published adult prices are €3 for the lighthouse, €8 for the museum and €9 for the combined ticket (checked October 2026). The site’s Champagne shop carries more than 40 cuvées from Montagne de Reims growers. The official tourism listing links the current opening and booking information.

The 101-step climb is not a wheelchair route. The park’s attraction listing gives the museum’s address at ground level, while the operator’s own visitor information should establish the accessible museum route. A general accessibility badge must not be read as step-free access to the tower top.

Named grower and cooperative stops

Hugues Godmé is at 10 rue de Verzy, Verzenay. The regional park lists the producer with direct contact and visit information, and a visit-and-tasting rate from €5 per person (checked October 2026). The directory does not identify a fixed number of cuvées for that starting rate; the estate supplies the dated tasting description. Use the park’s producer page to reach the estate and arrange the visit.

Champagne Mailly Grand Cru is at 28 rue de la Libération, Mailly-Champagne. The Épernay tourist office lists +33 3 26 49 41 10 and links the producer’s website. Its glass tasting pavilion overlooks the vineyards according to the departmental tourism description; this is a named tasting stop, not an invented cellar-tour programme.

The Mailly directory lists a range of Grand Cru cuvées and languages spoken. The language list does not establish that every arrival has an interpreter; request the chosen language and date through the producer. No unverified cellar length, pour count or fixed tasting duration is assigned here.

Canard-Duchêne at Ludes

Canard-Duchêne is at 1 rue Edmond Canard, Ludes, where the house has been based since 1868. Its official cellar tour enters hand-carved 19th-century cellars; a vineyard visit may be included when the weather permits. The named sabrage experience is a separate bookable activity.

The official cellar tour requires at least two adults. The boutique and tastings receive visitors without a reservation according to the house’s visitor page, while the cellar appointment uses the booking system. The Canard-Duchêne guide separates those products and links the current offers.

Other published park walks

The park’s walking selection gives the Rilly-la-Montagne circuit as 7.3 km/approximately two hours, the Germaine circuit as 6.4 km/approximately two hours and the Forêt Royale route at Trépail as 9.3 km/approximately three hours. Those are separate published walks with their own starting points.

The Mont Aigu circuit at Avenay-Val-d’Or is 11 km with an indicative three-hour duration. The trail figures describe the selected loop, not the transfer from Reims or a promise that it connects with every train. Rilly-la-Montagne and Germaine are stops on the Reims–Épernay TER route.

Stay in the forest villages or in Reims

Search Find hotels in Rilly-la-Montagne,%20France">Rilly-la-Montagne stays or Find hotels in Verzenay,%20France">Verzenay stays for a village base, and Find hotels in Reims,%20France">Reims accommodation for the central station and city restaurants. CJ Booking.com links may earn us commission from eligible bookings. The accommodation guide names individual properties.

No single road time is attached to the whole Montagne de Reims. The actual destination may be Ludes, Verzy, Verzenay, Bouzy or Germaine. Use the named transport contacts with the estate’s street address; tasting days require a non-drinking driver or reserved transport.

Reims, Hautvillers and Aÿ

Reims’s Saint-Nicaise estates include Taittinger at 9 place Saint-Nicaise, Ruinart at 4 rue des Crayères, Pommery at 5 place du Général Gouraud and Veuve Clicquot at 1 rue Albert Thomas. The Reims guide separates their bookings from cathedral and market visits.

Hautvillers has Saint-Sindulphe church, 140 wrought-iron signs and named viewpoints at Belvédère Dom Pérignon and Croix Joseph. Aÿ has the 19-stop Musardises trail and Pressoria at 11 boulevard Pierre Cheval. The Hautvillers and Aÿ guides link their village maps and individual bookings.

Verzenay’s 1818 windmill

The Moulin de Verzenay stands on Mont-Bœuf. It was built in 1818 by the Tinot-Vincent couple for milling two kinds of grain at once, according to Union des Maisons de Champagne. The Boudeville family took over in 1863 and ended production in 1903. This is a former grain mill in the vineyard landscape, not a Champagne press.

The mill served as an observation post in the First World War and again for the American army in 1944. Its timbers and four sails were restored from 1949, and Mumm took over its conservation in 1972. The present site belongs to G.H. Mumm and is protected as a Historic Monument; an exterior view does not grant access to the house’s private reception spaces.

The lighthouse on the other side of Verzenay belongs to a different story. Joseph Goulet imagined it in 1909 as an eye-catching landmark associated with Champagne. The village’s UMC profile lists both the 1818 mill and 1909 lighthouse, so photographs and map markers should distinguish the two structures.

Mont Sinaï: 286 metres and a wartime observatory

Mont Sinaï reaches 286 metres, identified by the park as the high point of the Montagne de Reims and the Marne department. The military observatory on the heights of Verzy was installed by the Allies in 1914. The view enabled observation towards German positions on the far side of the Vesle, at Mont Berru and Mont Haut.

The departmental tourism agency describes Mont Sinaï and its bunkers as protected historic monuments. The park’s car-free micro-adventure links Verzenay to Verzy by the southern part of the Entre Vignes et Faux route, passing the observatory before the twisted beeches. The historical viewpoint is a different stop from the Phare de Verzenay tower.

The regional-park federation describes woodland covering around forty per cent of the park. Verzy forest’s twisted beeches occupy a protected biological reserve within that wider inhabited park. Woodland, villages and vineyard slopes share the park; a park boundary does not establish a village’s Grand Cru classification.

Rilly-la-Montagne: Roger Manceaux and Daniel Dumont

Roger Manceaux is at 5–7 rue de la Liberté, Rilly-la-Montagne. The official house offers a cellar visit followed by two cuvées for €20 per person, with free non-tasting admission for minors (checked October 2026). Its direct contact is info@champagne-rogermanceaux.fr and +33 3 26 03 42 57. Use the house’s visit page for the dated appointment.

Daniel Dumont is at 11 rue Gambetta, Rilly-la-Montagne, listed by the Reims tourist office for estate visits and tastings by appointment. Its published wine range includes Grande Réserve Brut, Brut Rosé, a demi-sec dessert cuvée and a Premier Cru vintage prestige cuvée. Contact the estate through its own website for the selected tasting.

Daniel Dumont’s own range description gives Grande Réserve as forty per cent Pinot Noir, forty per cent Chardonnay and twenty per cent Meunier. Its prestige vintage blend is seventy per cent Pinot Noir and thirty per cent Chardonnay. These named blends offer a different comparison from the Chardonnay-focused tastings of the Côte des Blancs; the booked product determines which wines are poured.

Named places to stay in the Montagne

Château de Rilly is at 38 rue de Reims, Rilly-la-Montagne. The commune’s official directory gives +33 3 26 07 53 21 and links the hotel website. The address puts the hotel in the same village as Roger Manceaux and Daniel Dumont, with Rilly station on the Reims–Épernay rail line. A room booking and a producer visit are separate reservations.

Les Bulles Dorées is at 32 rue de Reims in Rilly-la-Montagne. The departmental tourist office describes five themed rooms, a lounge with a vineyard panorama and breakfast beneath a glass roof. The property also offers tastings of its own cuvées. This is a guesthouse in Rilly, not accommodation beside the Faux de Verzy.

Château de Sacy is on rue des Croisettes in Sacy. Reims Tourisme lists both its accommodation and restaurant at that address, with contact@chateaudesacy-reims.fr and +33 3 26 07 60 38. The restaurant’s vineyard-facing terrace appears on the hotel’s own website. Sacy is a separate western village base from Rilly, Verzy and Verzenay.

Domaine du Chalet is at Chigny-les-Roses. Grand Est tourism describes its house as built in 1860 and identifies the village as part of the Montagne de Reims park. The same regional route identifies Cottages Antoinette, three contemporary duplex houses for up to four guests each at the forest edge. The two properties provide distinct accommodation formats in the Chigny-les-Roses area.

A restaurant booking in the village

Château de Sacy’s restaurant uses the same rue des Croisettes address as the hotel, with a separate table booking. Château de Rilly’s restaurant is at 38 rue de Reims. These two named dining addresses keep a meal within the selected village instead of assuming a return to central Reims between cellar appointments.

For the south-east side of the Montagne, Le Bec Fin is at 16 rue Ernest Irroy in Bouzy, listed by the Hautvillers tourist office. Its contact is +33 3 26 53 85 14. Bouzy is a named Grand Cru village with its own growers; it should not be presented as the restaurant quarter of Verzenay.

Maison du Parc at Pourcy

The Maison du Parc is on chemin de Nanteuil, Pourcy. Its outdoor spaces include a conservatory orchard, educational garden and pond, and a botanical trail, all described by the park as freely accessible in every season. This provides a named nature stop with interpretation, separate from the Faux de Verzy reserve on the eastern side of the forest.

The Maison du Parc is also a walking start point. The park publishes a 4 km Pourcy loop and the longer GR de Pays de l’Ardre at 49 km over two days. The 4 km circuit is a local outing; the two-day route requires different accommodation and return transport from a one-hour viewpoint visit.

The park’s own car-free page links SNCF journey planning with the Reims–Épernay Ligne des Bulles. For travel from Dormans or Châlons-en-Champagne, it directs visitors to change at Épernay for the line into the park. Rilly, Germaine, Avenay-Val-d’Or and Aÿ are the four named intermediate stations; a station choice determines which village walk can begin on foot.

Grand’R is a separate bus service operated by Transdev Grand Reims within the Grand Reims Mobilités network. The park’s July 2026 announcement marks its fiftieth anniversary with a specially decorated Grand’R vehicle. The dated network timetable supplies the actual departure, season and return service; the anniversary announcement alone does not establish an hourly bus.