Mercier champagne tour: visits, prices & booking

History

Eugène Mercier established his champagne house aged twenty. His later Épernay cellar project began in 1871 and took six years to complete. Its galleries were arranged on one level, with a railway connection forming part of the nineteenth-century development. The surviving network stretches for 18km below the Avenue de Champagne site. The nineteenth-century railway connection linked the cellars with Paris.

Electricity reached the cellars in 1886. Mercier also used horse-drawn carriages to bring visitors underground: four horses drew the carriages through the galleries. In 1891 the passengers included French president Sadi Carnot, whose visit is commemorated in a chalk bas-relief by Gustave Navlet.

The immense blending cask became a piece of travelling publicity at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1889. Mercier’s account gives a capacity equivalent to 200,000 bottles and a weight exceeding twenty tonnes. The house records a second prize for the cask, behind the Eiffel Tower.

At the 1900 Universal Exhibition, Mercier returned with a different attraction: an anchored hot-air balloon containing a bar. His publicity extended to a filmed commercial made with the Lumière brothers. A Paris–Épernay motor rally reached the house in 1904, continuing the association between champagne and new forms of transport.

The present driverless visitor train continues Mercier’s use of transport as part of the cellar experience. It runs through a portion of the same single-storey network visited by Carnot. Gustave Navlet’s carvings remain on the underground route, alongside the stored bottles.

The Comité Champagne describes two panoramic lifts descending beside a projected film on a screen more than twenty metres high. A laser system guides the train after the descent. These installations add a modern layer to the chalk galleries, approximately 30m beneath Épernay.

The Vendanges Mercier archive contains separate records for 2007 and 2010. The 2007 blend combines 42% Chardonnay, 39% Pinot Noir and 19% Meunier; the 2010 recipe changes to 55%, 30% and 15% respectively. Those dated assemblages document the development of particular wines alongside the house’s engineering and advertising history.

Mercier: the place and its story

The Founder is the shortest published format at 45 minutes, with Blanc de Noirs. Mercier Duo adds Brut Rosé; Golden Bubbles adds Brut Mercier as a third wine. Bubble Talk uses the same three-cuvée selection with a live guide, while Tell Me More About Vintage pairs Mercier Vintage with Blanc de Noirs.

Mercier Blanc de Noirs is 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Meunier. Its white appearance comes from black-skinned grapes, rather than Chardonnay; this is the wine served on The Founder. Mercier Brut uses 45% Pinot Noir, 40% Meunier and 15% Chardonnay, providing a blend comparison on Golden Bubbles and Bubble Talk.

The Founder, Mercier Duo and Golden Bubbles use the same train route and recorded commentary; the difference is the one-, two- or three-wine tasting. The audio device covers French, English, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese and Russian, with French Sign Language available by tablet on request.

Mercier’s 2026 calendar lists daily reception from 6 April to 15 November, then Wednesday–Sunday from 18 November to 27 December. It closes on 25 December, opens exceptionally on 28–29 December and starts its annual closure on the evening of 30 December. The French calendar also gives Wednesday–Sunday reception from 13 February to 5 April 2026.

Children under ten need a free Child ticket; ages ten to seventeen need the €12 Teen ticket. Audio-guided train groups can be up to thirty, while live-guide groups range from fifteen to twenty according to the theme. A non-drinking adult rate is arranged directly, with a non-alcoholic drink during the tasting.

Online purchases generate two emails: a payment confirmation and a separate message containing e-tickets. Same-day tours cannot be booked online; the published route is to telephone the visitor team. The online system accepts CB, Visa, Mastercard and American Express, but the house says it does not accept ANCV vouchers or offer gift vouchers.

Mercier Brut Rosé is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Meunier. Its official pairing suggestions are salmon maki and a red-berry pavlova. The rosé is included in Mercier Duo, Golden Bubbles and Bubble Talk, so those products compare it directly with the white Blanc de Noirs made from the same two black-grape varieties in different proportions.

L’Impériale de Marie Antoinette offers a separate ninety-minute bus excursion that stops at Mercier to see the giant cask. The Épernay tourist office lists an avenue de Champagne circuit, vineyard views and a stop at Hautvillers, with three champagne glasses and French–English commentary. Its published capacity is four to twenty people, from €80, checked October 2026.

That bus excursion meets opposite the tourist office on rue Jean Chandon Moët. It includes a sabrage demonstration when more than four people take part. The Mercier cask stop forms part of the bus route; it is not a substitute for a booked Mercier cellar-train ticket. The official tourist-office product is named Escapade Pétillante: paysages et dégustations (1h30).

The tourist office’s 2025 Épernay map places Mercier at 68–70 avenue de Champagne and Comtesse Lafond at number 79. Farther down the Avenue, it lists Boizel’s Atelier 1834 at number 46 and A. Bergère at 38–40. De Castellane’s tower reception is at 57 rue de Verdun, a different street address from the Avenue houses.

Across avenue de Champagne, Bulles & Bonheur at 71–73 provides a separately bookable grower tasting. The tourist office’s L’Expérience listing names Récolte 1989 and M’Élodie 1990, both Pinot Noir Extra Brut from Desbordes-Amiaud, plus Élodie D. Pinot Gris 2018. The three-wine selection is listed from €70, checked October 2026, with French and English offered.

Bulles & Bonheur’s Dégustation Festive is a different three-wine product, from €28, checked October 2026. Its listed selection includes Élodie D. cuvées Pierre, Marie, Paul, Louis and Rose, plus Jeeper Rosé. The official listing identifies Élodie Desbordes’s vineyards in Écueil and the tasting mansion at 71–73 avenue de Champagne.

Mercier also has two event venues that are distinct from its regular public train experience. The tourist office lists Caveau Bacchus for forty to two hundred people and Pavillon Mercier for sixteen to three hundred, with lower capacities when a dance floor is required. Those group-space descriptions do not mean a public tour includes a meal or private reception.

The Vendanges Mercier vintage archive illustrates how its blends change by year. Vintage 2010 contains 55% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 15% Meunier; Vintage 2007 contains 42% Chardonnay, 39% Pinot Noir and 19% Meunier. The house pairs the 2010 with seafood risotto and the 2007 with lobster-and-dill spring rolls. Tell Me More About Vintage identifies its poured wine simply as Mercier Vintage.

Visits and tastings

Access and facilities

Audio-player visits are advertised in eleven languages, and guided tours in English and French. The official site identifies a French Sign Language tablet option. Teenagers must be accompanied by an adult, and children receive an alternative to champagne. Wheelchair train spaces are arranged directly with the house.

Mercier requires wheelchair train places to be reserved directly through visitescaves@champagnemercier.com or +33 (0)3 26 51 22 22. The route uses a panoramic lift followed by the train. The visitor centre offers tasting without a tour and a public boutique, but its FAQ states that there is no food service.

The Comité Champagne describes a film projected onto a screen more than twenty metres high during the panoramic-lift descent. The train is guided by a laser system. Recorded commentary follows the journey underground; the sommelier-led tasting takes place after returning to the surface. The listed address is 68–70 avenue de Champagne.

Eugène Mercier founded his house at the age of twenty. The Épernay visitor site is 68 avenue de Champagne, above 18km of single-storey cellars approximately 30m underground. A driverless train carries visitors through part of the network; it is included in every cellar ticket.

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Official information

Mercier official information and booking

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